New friends and cohesive classrooms: A research practice partnership to promote inclusion

Abstract

This longitudinal unusual case study explored the efficacy of a Research Practice Partnership (RPP) between researchers and educators aiming to promote inclusion of students identified as having Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in an urban, highly diverse, high-need elementary school in Southern California. In the context of this study, an RPP is defined as an approach where researchers and educators work collaboratively over time to solve pressing pedagogical problems of mutual concern. Lessons have been constructed and implemented by educators as part of the RPP, spanning one school year. A total of 116 students across four classrooms participated in a social network survey to examine their friendship ties before (T1) and after (T2) the RPP. The pre-RPP data collection (T1) occurred three months into the school year and the post-RPP data collection (T2) took place at the end of the school year. To explore our hypotheses, we conducted bootstrapped paired sample t tests and Separable Temporal Exponential Random Graph Models (STERGMs). Results showed that the number of friendship ties increased significantly from T1 to T2 for all students and students identified as having SEND were significantly more likely to send new friendship ties. Implications for practice are being discussed.