Educational Design Research to Support System-Wide Instructional Improvement

Abstract

In this chapter, we describe a methodology for conducting educationaldesign research to support system-wide instructional improvement inmathematics and draw on one of the few design studies that does this asan illustrative case. Design studies conducted at the level of aneducational system are interventionist in nature, and can address boththe complexity of educational settings and the problems that educationalsystem leaders, school leaders, and teachers encounter as they work toimprove the quality of classroom instruction, school instructionalleadership, and ultimately, students' mathematics learning. This chapterdescribes the theoretical background for this approach, in which theissue of what it takes to support instructional improvement on a largescale is framed as an explicit focus of empirical investigation.