Imagine an interdisciplinary entrepreneurial alliance of researchers and practitioners  that is highly-focused on identification and continuous improvement of key supports and practices that increase capacity to reform science teacher preparation. Further, this alliance crosses traditional academic barriers by coupling research and practice and prioritizing practical know-how (that is generalizable across diverse settings) over theoretical knowledge that might improve practice (Bryk, et al, 2015).

The Alliance for Science Educators Networked Improvement Community (ASE-NIC) represent eight universities across the country serving as a robust mechanism for accelerated learning, improvement, and dissemination at scale (Bryk, et al, 2015), by leveraging interdisciplinary expertise of NIC partners, prioritizing know-how over theory, and making knowledge (i.e., findings from PDSA cycles) a “live resource” (Dolle et al., 2013, p. 444). Data produced in PDSA cycles across the NIC enables NIC partners to collectively 1) examine variation in diverse teacher preparation programs and 2) continue to improve the tools and the processes for using them. Generalizability increases by understanding this variation and by using variation as an important data source for subsequent PDSA improvement cycles.