The Spencer Foundation is officially seeking proposals for its Research-Practice Partnerships (RPP) program, an initiative aimed at driving systemic change through collaborative inquiry.
This program supports projects where researchers and practitioners work side-by-side to improve educational outcomes for learners, families, and communities.
By prioritizing long-term engagement, the foundation hopes to generate new insights into the policies and practices that shape various learning environments, from traditional schools to community centers.
A central goal of this year’s call is to support partnerships that explicitly foreground and disrupt educational inequities.
Funding and benefits
Selected partnerships are eligible for grants of up to $400,000 to fund projects lasting up to three years.
These funds are intended to build the capacity of existing collaborations, allowing them to move beyond short-term fixes toward sustainable, systemic improvements.
The grant covers a wide range of activities, including the launch of new research studies and the development of critical research infrastructure like data archives and co-designed protocols.
Additionally, funds can be used for capacity building, such as training graduate students and early-career professionals in the methods of partnership-based research.
Beyond the data, the foundation also supports outreach and relationship-building.
This includes hiring communication specialists, holding community meetings to co-design research agendas, and finding new ways to share findings with the public and policymakers.
Application requirements and eligibility
This program is open to partnerships between academic researchers and a broad array of practitioners, including those in school districts, state agencies, and non-profit organizations.
The Principal Investigator (PI) must be affiliated with a non-profit or public institution, and the leadership team must include representatives from both the research and practice sides.
The application process begins with a pre-proposal narrative of no more than 1,350 words.
This document must detail the partnership’s history, its research questions, and how the team plans to address issues of equity throughout their collaborative work.
Deadline
The application window is scheduled to open on May 12, 2026. Interested teams must submit their mandatory pre-proposals by July 10, 2026, at 12:00 PM Noon Central Time, after which a select group will be invited to submit full proposals.
To apply, visit The Spencer Foundation call page. Visit our global opportunity page for more.
Summary not available at this time.
