Calendar

Eric Grodsky, Professor, Sociology and Educational Policy Studies, UW-Madison
Beth Vaade, Executive Director of Research and Innovation, MMSD
Bri Monahan, Director of Research, MMSD

Why (and How) to Work with a Research Practice Partnership

Grodsky, Vaade, and Monahan will talk about what and why research practice partnerships (RPPs) in education are. They will introduce the Madison Education Partnership as an example of research practice partnerships and discuss a bit about the work they do together- and with other researchers, practitioners, and school leaders at UW and in the Madison Metropolitan School District. They will then open it up for discussion. The intent of this session is to be informal, informative, and engaging,

Jared Knowles
 
Abstract: Dr. Jared Knowles, founder and president of Civilytics Consulting, will share lessons learned about using applied social science skills and knowledge in partnership with community organizations, governments, journalists, and other researchers. Civilytics has provided its clients and partners with an array of services over the past 7 years ranging from research and evaluation services, to data pipeline and streamlined reporting services, to literature reviews and evidence reviews, to thorough reviews of public documents and fact-checking public officials. In that time the company has been engaged in public debates about the validity of data, the accuracy of scientific research, and the value of different types of evidence in making policy decisions. Dr. Knowles will share his perspective on what parts of social science skills, training, and evidence are useful in this context, and what some of the resistance and barriers are to the application of social science to community decisions and public policy.

Ben Fisher, Assoc Professor, Civil Society & Communication Studies, UW-Madison
 
Abstract: The use of sworn police officers in schools—often called school resource officers (SROs) has become commonplace in U.S. schools. One of the major criticisms of the use of SROs is that they subject students to more and harsher punishment than they would experience otherwise. One reason this may occur is that SROs view a wide range of student behaviors as under their purview as law enforcement agents. However, research has not examined how SROs create boundaries around the role of law enforcement in the school setting. In this study, we investigate how SROs define what counts as law enforcement, what behaviors are actionable, and why they choose to mobilize their law enforcement capabilities. We find that SROs construct definitional boundaries around law enforcement through a theoretical concept that we call the safety logic—where school safety is believed to be constantly under threat from students gone awry. In turn, this safety logic leads officers to construct a fluid and expansive definition of law enforcement that envelops a wide range of (non)criminal student behaviors that they perceive as threatening to school safety.