Processes toward partnerships : how universities and K-12 schools make sense of partnering

Despite the increase in university and K-12 school partnerships over the last thirty years (Smith, 1992; Catelli, 2006), there is lack of scholarship devoted to the formation of partnerships. This qualitative study examines the relationships between a university and an urban K-12 school district, and the front-end organizational behaviors associated with the partnership. Using an auto-ethnographic approach, this study explores a key stakeholder's perspective of how the various partners make sense of their function, benefits and responsibilities in the partnership, and under what initial circumstances such partnerships are likely to thrive. -- Abstract.