The Improvement Science in Education SIG is a professional community committed to building knowledge about the principles, methods, and tools of improvement science and related approaches to improve outcomes in educational systems. 

Mission

The mission of the AERA Improvement Science SIG is to be a connector, amplifier, and home for a growing scholarly community interested in applying (and adapting) collaborative continuous improvement to educational problems. We are a professional community committed to building knowledge about the theory, methods, and practice of a related family of scholarly communities that share a focus on: 

• being responsive to the needs and priorities of educators and the communities they serve; 
• connecting research to practice for mutually beneficial learning;
• building collective capacities for collaborative inquiry and problem solving; 
• improving educational practice and student outcomes through humanizing approaches to collective inquiry and improvement;
• attending to the systems and ecologies in which educational problems and solutions are embedded; and
• iteratively developing, implementing, and scaling educational innovations.

Our members engage in a range of traditions, including: 

• improvement science and networked improvement communities
• design-based research, including co-design, liberatory design, design-based implementation research, design-based school improvement, and social design experiments;
• action research and participatory action research; and
• education-specific forms of collaborative inquiry, including lesson study, Data Wise, and instructional rounds
• participatory action research and community-engagement approaches
• improvement-focused research-practice partnerships

Stay Informed

Newsletters from the Improvement Science in Education SIG are released quarterly. To access future newsletters, please follow the membership guidance below. You can also see past newsletters:

• 2025-26: Fall
• 2024-25: Fall | Winter | Spring
• 2023-24: Fall
• 2022-23: Summer

Join the Improvement Science in Education SIG
You can become a member of the Improvement Science SIG by going to the AERA website. Navigate to the My AERA page, and then to "Renew Your Membership." 

• Lapsed Members: please visit the AERA membership renewal page to update your membership. We'd love to have your continued participation in our community!
• Current Members: Be sure to renew your SIG membership at the same time that you renew your AERA membership. You are the foundation on which we will continue building the Improvement Science research community. 

If you're already a member, please spread the word to your friends and colleagues, and encourage them to join our community!

SIG Annual Membership Dues
$5 for all

Questions?
If you have any questions about SIG-IT, please contact any of the current officers.