By Sarah Hartman and Alyson Lischka, MTEP 2.0 Research Hub members
As each networked improvement community (NIC) in the Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership (MTEP) 2.0 has worked over the last few years, significant progress has been made. Some NICs are focused on recruitment and retention, while others are working toward achieving equitable instructional practices in teacher preparation programs.
To update NICs on their progress, the MTEP Research Hub compiled multiple data points from NIC-provided data into Partnership Profiles. The data provided to the Research Hub includes progress toward the MTEP 2.0 Guiding Principles, information about the work of team leaders and coaches and documentation of improvement science strategies, including driver diagrams and PDSA cycles.
The construction of each profile began with a timeline, which tells the story of the NIC’s evolution, and an overarching story including leader characteristics, connection to MTEP, the role equity plays in the NIC, culture and institutional context, and challenges and tensions in the NIC’s work. In addition, the Research Hub added reflections on the NIC’s work and areas for improvement with support from MTEP leadership.
These Partnership Profiles were sent to each NIC leader, with an invitation for edits from each team. They are also accessible from the Files section of Groups.io. The profiles are currently being revised to reflect any data received from the 2024-2025 school year or changes made by NIC team members. The data from these profiles provided the Research Hub with the means to compare across teams to learn about variation in context and the effectiveness of MTEP supports. The revised Partnership Profiles will be sent to NICs soon—but in the meantime, let’s reflect: How could these Partnership Profiles benefit your team?
We encourage teams to use the Partnership Profiles to reflect on their own findings and to write about their work and stories. The Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators Connections newsletter is a great outlet for informal pieces; Mathematics Teacher Educator and Contemporary Issues in Technology and Mathematics Teacher Education are other possible outlets to tell NIC stories and share the work of teams. How could you incorporate the data in your Partnership Profile into your own dissemination efforts?