The LAB – A network of research schools

This chapter offers a thick description of the LAB research-practice partnership (RPP) initiative that served as the contextual foundation for this book. In the LAB, two higher education institutions in Israel collaborated with 21 elementary, middle, and secondary schools. The primary objective of the initiative was to provide partnering schools with the opportunity to understand pedagogical processes and enable them to articulate and implement changes by actively engaging in school-based research. This chapter elucidates the foundational principles of and rationale for the LAB operations. It introduces the infrastructure of the LAB, including the partners, the collaborative dynamics between schools and faculty members, the research-school network, and the accompanying procedural aspects. This chapter provides a foundational framework for the case studies in Part Two of this book, explains the RPP as a viable collaborative model between schools and academia, and provides insights into methodological perspectives for the study of RPPs.