ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. STEM Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1628023
Discontinuities that arise when designing for educational improvement at state scale
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, United States
- 2East Carolina State University, Greenville, NC, United States
- 3University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro,, United States
- 4Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, United States
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This paper explores the tensions—or discontinuities—that arise when designing for educational improvement at scale through research-practice partnerships (RPPs). Focusing on a statewide mathematics education initiative, the authors examine the complexities of coordinating work across diverse communities of practice and analyze how identity, power, and meaning-making impact collaborative problem definition. Drawing on Wenger’s dualities of participation-reification and identification-negotiation, the study highlights three recurring discontinuities: navigating the ambiguity of the design process, designing for diverse system stakeholders, and negotiating shared vocabulary. Through qualitative analysis of team reflections, activities, and artifacts, the paper offers practical strategies—such as participation structures and system mapping—to support productive boundary encounters and restore continuity. These insights advance both theory and practice for those undertaking equity-oriented design at large scale.
Keywords: Design based research, discontinuities, Community of practice (cop), large scale, Research Practice Partnership
Received: 13 May 2025; Accepted: 12 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Stephan, McCulloch, Schwartz, Wilson and Mawhinney. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Michelle Stephan, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, United States
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