Community Research Collaboratives

While working with partners within the Education Justice Network to develop projects that engage community-based organizations with researchers, SCOPE and National Education Policy Center identified a need for a new definition for an approach to research and engagement. Called Community Research Collaboratives (CRCs), this approach to equity work consists of partnerships among community members, researchers, and/or educational institutions that work together to advance equity and justice by jointly creating new knowledge, policies, and/or practices that promote systemic change in educational systems and society. Creating the definition of CRCs serves to elevate this existing field of work, which is currently under-recognized by academic researchers, philanthropists, and educational policymakers and practitioners.

This SCOPE and NEPC research report fleshes out these ideas and provides detailed snapshots of some of the representative organizations that could be considered CRCs to illustrate how the core features are manifested in practice. We intend our analysis to highlight the unique attributes of CRCs, to boost their visibility in education, and to encourage funding support for this growing field. Read the report>>