Kidznotes, a Triangle-based following the international El Sistema model, works to effect social change through ensemble orchestral education for through traditionally underserved youth. SSRI has collaborated with Kidznotes as a research and evaluation partner since 2016, including initiating a randomized study assessing effects using student performance tasks, surveys, and academic administrative data; SSRI successfully led development of funding proposal for these efforts and overseen this project’s implementation. This partnership embodies a responsive research-practice partnership, whereby research and evaluation efforts are directly and collaboratively informed by an applied partner’s needs and interests.