Developing Shared Network Vision in a Rural STEM Research‐Practice Partnership

Research‐practice partnerships (RPPs), including Networked Improvement Communities (NICs), depend on a shared vision to coordinate collective improvement work. While shared vision is widely recognized as foundational, little empirical guidance exists for how networks establish and sustain it, particularly during early formation when participants and purposes are still emerging. This qualitative case study examines how shared network vision was negotiated in the early stages of Washington STEM Teachers Engaging in Leadership, Learning, and Research (WA‐STELLAR), a rural‐focused STEM NIC funded by a National Science Foundation Noyce grant. Analysis was guided by the Ecosystem Model of Systemic Change Leadership to examine interactions among contextual factors, leadership moves, and organizational levers. Findings show that vision formation was an iterative, relational process shaped by intersecting K‐12 and higher education governance norms, assumptions about authority, and political dimensions of STEM identity in rural contexts. Project leaders employed structured tools, synthesis, and reframing as leadership levers to surface shared challenges, negotiate meaning, and align district‐level efforts with network‐level goals. The study demonstrates how shared vision functions as both a product and a process, offering practical strategies for sustaining coherence in distributed RPPs and contributing to understanding how leadership supports collective sensemaking within improvement networks.