Design research offers an approach for developing innovations in authentic educational settings and generating knowledge about learning and the designs that support it. Yet scaling and sustaining these innovations across contexts remains a persistent challenge. In this paper, we present a design framework developed by a nine-year partnership focused on building a statewide professional learning infrastructure for mathematics education. Drawing upon Edelson’s conceptualization of design theories, the framework describes essential characteristics of resources and structures intended to support individual, collective, and organizational learning in ways that foster systemic coherence and shared instructional vision. We discuss opportunities and challenges of engaging in design research with educational systems and implications for scaling and sustaining innovations in mathematics education, including how our adaptation of design research expands what can be accomplished when working with, rather than within, educational systems.
Wilson, P. H., Stephan, M., McCulloch, A. W., Schwartz, C., & Mawhinney, K. (2025). Designing for systemic coherence: a framework for supporting instructional improvement in mathematics education. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/10986065.2025.2579005