In a recent professional learning session, the facilitator talked about the “trauma” that teachers have experienced the past several years without a roadmap for curriculum implementation. And it’s true. We have been so focused on getting great materials into the hands of educators for the past several years that we have overlooked the fact that very few district leaders, school leaders, or teachers know what the implementation journey looks like to use these materials skillfully.
The reality is that these high-quality instructional materials, or HQIM, require a fundamental shift in teacher practice, professional learning, systems, structures, and policies. Without a clear roadmap for navigating the implementation journey, these enabling conditions become serious roadblocks to improving student learning.
Rivet Education has identified five stages of instructional materials implementation using the four phases of implementation science identified by the National Implementation Research Network at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute as a starting point. Our new Instructional Materials Implementation Tool is a roadmap for each phase of HQIM implementation, outlining key actions and corresponding success criteria that district leaders, school leaders, and teachers must follow to navigate each phase successfully.
Rivet Education recommends district leaders use the Implementation Tool in three ways:
1. Preview and understand the entire instructional materials selection and implementation journey.
The Implementation Tool provides an overview of the entire curriculum journey for education leaders who have recently adopted a new HQIM or are about to embark on the adoption process. Outlining the key actions that leaders and teachers must take can inform implementation and professional learning plans in years one and beyond.
2. Identify which implementation phase you are in regardless of the year of implementation.
At the start of each phase in the tool is a quick checklist of the key actions for the phase by stakeholder group—district leader, school leader, or teacher. Use this checklist to assess which phase your implementation is in quickly. If you have recently adopted a new curriculum, start with “Program Installation.” If you are already implementing an HQIM, start with “Initial Implementation.”
- If you mark less than 60% of the indicators for the phase green, move to the previous phase and begin measurement there.
- If you mark 60 – 75% of the indicators for phase green, you are currently in this phase.
- If you mark more than 75% of the indicators for the phase green, advance to the next phase.
3. Determine the strength of your implementation and readiness for the next phase.
Once you have identified your phase, it’s time to determine the strength of your implementation and readiness for the next phase.
- Review the key actions (bolded items) and success criteria (sub-bullets) for each stakeholder group for the phase.
- Check off the success criteria (sub-bullets) underneath each key action (bolded) that each group currently meets.
- Score each key action (bolded) using the following scale. The success criteria marked as yellow or red are the priority actions you and your team need to take or support to strengthen implementation.
- Green: Most to all of the success criteria are met
- Yellow: Some of the success criteria are met
- Red: Few to none of the success criteria are met
- Determine your readiness to move into the next phase.
- If you score green on all key actions in a phase, move to the next phase and begin the scoring process again to determine the steps needed to strengthen implementation for that phase.
- If you score red on more than 50% of the key actions in the phase, move back to the previous phase and begin the scoring process again to determine the steps you need to take to strengthen implementation for that phase.
Now that you have used the Implementation Tool to identify the key actions needed to support teachers and leaders in their skillful implementation of your HQIM, it’s time to put your implementation plan in place and monitor progress to move into the next phase.
If you need help implementing your implementation plan, contact us at info@riveteducation.org. If you need curriculum-based professional learning support for teachers and leaders, visit our Professional Learning Partner Guide, where 50 vetted providers are ready to help you, regardless of your needs or the implementation phase you are in.
Let’s stop making the curriculum implementation journey a guessing game that leads to traumatic experiences for teachers and leaders. Instead, give them the support they need and deserve to use these materials skillfully!