Beyond Relationships: Leadership and Governance in Enabling Boundary-Spanning Collaboration for Research-Practice Partnerships in Texas

Abstract

This capstone documents and examines a strategic project undertaken within a statewide private operating foundation to establish a research community of practice (CoP) aimed at building will and capacity among participants to initiate and sustain research-practice partnerships across three regions in Texas. The project was embedded in a $1.6 million, multi-year grant funded by a national foundation to support research on the early implementation of strategic staffing models in Texas school districts. The CoP included three regional foundations and nonprofit organizations based in Texas, and university-based research partners selected and funded by the regional organizations. The project operated within a complex organizational and political context marked by organizational restructuring, leadership transition, evolving grant expectations, and ambiguous authority structures. The review of knowledge for action is grounded in the literature on systems change and field building, research-practice partnerships, communities of practice, and adaptive leadership. During the eight-month residency period captured in this capstone, the strategic project sought to balance the tension between the concrete and pressing short-term goal of building capacity to conduct rigorous, collaborative research on the strategic staffing project and the long-term aspirational goal of sustaining research-practice partnerships. The leadership moves focused on creating clarity, strengthening trust, and building technical and relational capacity among participants to engage in collaboration that spanned organizational and geographic boundaries. Evidence from surveys, observations, artifacts, and conversations indicates meaningful progress in the relational dimension of the work, including high levels of psychological safety and trust. At the same time, challenges persisted in the community of practice's structural dimensions, specifically regarding role clarity, data governance, coordination, and decision-making authority. The analysis suggests collaboration across organizations requires more than strong relationships and shared purpose; it also requires clear governance structures and attention to authority, accountability, and coordination. These findings have implications for organizations and funders seeking to support cross-organizational collaboration to improve educational outcomes.