The Northwestern Evanston Education Research Alliance (NEERA) is a research-practice partnership between Northwestern University, Evanston-area school districts, and civic and community organizations. We are data-driven and equity-minded, and we collectively leverage the expertise of researchers and practitioners both inside and outside the classroom. Our goal is to promote the development, learning, and well-being of the young people and families of Evanston and the world beyond.
Our research-practice partnership prides itself on a mutually collaborative approach. NEERA is driven by the needs of the schools and community and powered by one of the top universities in the nation.
We investigate complex issues in the community, including the nature of achievement and disparities in Evanston; the factors that help students succeed; and the effectiveness of strategies for equity.
Research-practice partnerships (RPP) are collaborative, long-term relationships between researchers and practitioners that address problems in education. These partnerships generate more relevant research questions and produce work that can be implemented in schools and communities.
Cynthia Coburn, the Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence at the School of Education and Social Policy, is one of the nation's leading researchers of research-practice partnerships. Coburn was one of the first people to actually study them, and in doing so, she contributed core conceptual and definitional work that helped the field grow.
NEERA is rooted in the idea that conducting relevant research and actively using the results leads to better ways of helping students, more engaged scholars, and a greater impact on the community.
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Benefits of the NEERA research-practice partnership
Who We Are
NEERA is powered by the School of Education and Social Policy’s Office of Community Education Partnerships at Northwestern University. The research-practice partnership collects a wide variety of data and draws on expertise of researchers from across Northwestern, including the School of Education and Social Policy and the School’s Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences; Northwestern’s Institute for Policy Research; Feinberg School of Medicine; Weinberg Collage of Arts and Sciences; and teachers, leaders, and administrators from Evanston/Skokie School District 65 and Evanston Township High School District 202.
Our Story
NEERA was born in 2016, after a grant from the Spencer Foundation and local funding from the Lewis-Sebring Family Foundation helped formalize an ongoing partnership between Northwestern and Evanston schools.
While Evanston school districts are among the highest achieving in the nation, they also have some of the largest differences in racial achievement. NEERA is built on a foundation of mutual collaboration with community members. Together, we study and design solutions that build equity and further empower students, parents, and educators across the community.
NEERA is housed within the School of Education and Social Policy. Our Office of Community Education Partnerships, which bridges the School’s research, teaching, and service missions, serves as the main point of contact for data sharing and a resource for both the school districts and researchers.