for the learning of mathematics

an international journal of mathematics education

Beth L. Macdonald ,  Neet Priya Bajwa ,  Amanda L. Cullen ,  Allison M. Kroesch ,  Edward Mooney - Vol. 46 Num. 1 (2026)
 Reimagining socio-ecological frameworks

15-20
 ABSTRACT:

This article introduces the Socio-Ecological Practice-Research (SEPR) Learning Community Framework, a model developed through a multi-year collaboration among early childhood educators, special education researchers, and mathematics education researchers in the Midwestern United States. The framework emerged from the team’s efforts to understand and support young students’ mathematical problem-solving within Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) contexts. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s (1977) socio-ecological theory, the SEPR framework conceptualizes research–practice partnerships through five interrelated ecological levels—individual, microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem—and three guiding constructs: shared focus, shared work, and shared vision. Through these constructs, the SEPR framework highlights how pedagogical efforts amongst the team members bring equitable mathematics instruction across classroom and institutional systems. To better understand how this framework can be used in the mathematics education field, we situate the SEPR within existing ecological and partnership frameworks (e.g., Louie & Zhan, 2022; Borko & Potari, 2020; Prediger, 2022), emphasizing how it integrates theoretical rigor with practical relevance.