Collaborative research: practice how you play: integrating digital practice spaces into coaching cycles for developing effective mathematics teaching practices

The National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education awarded Educational Testing Service $129,920 on September 15, 2026, under the STEM Education program (CFDA 47.076) to develop and pilot a model for integrating digital clinical simulations into mathematics coaching cycles.

Over the three-year performance period ending August 31, 2029, ETS will employ design-based research to develop, pilot, and refine instructional methods that use realistic online practice scenarios to give mathematics teachers repeated, deliberate practice with effective teaching practices before classroom implementation. Working in partnership with Boston Public Schools, the project will support 15 high school mathematics coaches in learning to design and use digital simulations within one-on-one coaching cycles. The project directly engages up to 30 teachers who collectively serve approximately 3,000 students, with potential for broader reach through coaches' full caseloads.

The research will investigate how instructional coaches design and integrate digital clinical simulations within coaching cycles to support teachers' development of effective mathematics teaching practices; how programmatic components across project phases contribute to coaches' learning; and how teachers engage in coaching cycles with simulations and take up and enact effective mathematics teaching practices. Two cohorts of coaches will move through the project phases.

Place of performance is Princeton, New Jersey. The assistance type is Project Grant.

Abstract

Instructional coaching is one of the most powerful forms of professional learning for mathematics teachers, yet a critical element is often missing from coaching cycles: the opportunity for teachers to rehearse new teaching practices in a low-stakes setting before enacting them with students. This project will address that GAP by integrating digital clinical simulations - realistic online practice scenarios - into one-on-one mathematics coaching cycles. Working in partnership with boston public schools, the project will support high school mathematics coaches in learning to use and design simulations that give teachers repeated, deliberate practice with effective mathematics teaching practices. The project will directly engage 15 mathematics coaches and up to 30 teachers who collectively serve approximately 3,000 students, with the potential for far broader reach through the coaches' full caseloads. By strengthening the quality of mathematics instruction in a large urban district, the project will advance the national interest in developing a mathematically prepared citizenry and workforce. The three-year collaborative project will employ design-based research to develop, pilot, and refine a model for incorporating digital clinical simulations into coaching cycles. The project plans to investigate three questions: how instructional coaches will design and integrate digital clinical simulations within coaching cycles to support teachers' development of effective mathematics teaching practices, and what coaches learn from this process; how programmatic components across project phases will contribute to coaches' learning to design and use simulations; and how teachers will engage in coaching cycles with simulations and take up and enact effective mathematics teaching practices. Two cohorts of coaches will move through a three-phase professional development sequence: 1) a summer coaching institute focused on effective mathematics teaching practices, 2) an in-school coaching phase with a professional learning community in which coaches will enact coaching cycles that embed simulations, and 3) a design institute in which coaches will learn to author simulations grounded in their teachers' classroom contexts. The research team will collect video, audio, and screen-capture recordings of coaching conversations and simulation use; semi-structured interview data; field notes; and coaching artifacts, analyzing these data across iterative design cycles. The project will produce a refined model for simulation-integrated coaching, a curated and openly available set of simulations, principles for designing high-quality simulations, and a sustained professional learning community for district mathematics coaches. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and practitioner outlets serving mathematics educators and district leaders. This project was funded by the stem k-12 program, which supports fundamental, applied, and translational research on stem learning in both formal k-12 education and informal learning environments. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.