Categories for Implementation
March 11, 2021
Student teaching, field experience, and practicum experience are powerful methods for training new teachers. These methods all feature working with students in classrooms or in laboratory environments that bridge the gap between university instruction and the experience of teaching. Integrating theory, knowledge, and skills, student teaching generally occurs under the direction of a supervisor at the end of the preparation process.
Citation: Cleaver, S., Detrich, R., States, J. & Keyworth, R. (2020). Overview of Teacher Induction. Oakland, CA: The Wing Institute. https://www.winginstitute.org/pre-service-student.
Link: https://www.winginstitute.org/pre-service-student
January 19, 2021
The Next Generation of State Reforms to Improve their Lowest Performing Schools: An Evaluation of North Carolina’s School Transformation Initiative. Over the past 20 years, significant resources have been spent to raise low-performing schools’ performance. This research examines the impact of federally mandated school reforms under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) on North Carolina schools. The revised education legislation allows states more discretion in reforming their lowest-performing schools, removes requirements to disrupt the status quo, and does not allocate substantial additional funds. This study relies on a regression discontinuity design to evaluate North Carolina’s turnaround initiative aligned with ESSA requirements. The results reveal no significant growth in student test performance and decreased performance in year two. Schools also continued to experience high teacher turnover despite the school reform intervention.
The study authors suggest current reform interventions that do not disrupt the status quo of how schools go about instruction are likely to fail. The paper also highlights the need for school leaders to embrace implementation science to ensure that adequate resources are available to implement initiatives as designed.
Citation: Henry, G. T., & Harbatkin, E. (2020). The Next Generation of State Reforms to Improve their Lowest Performing Schools: An Evaluation of North Carolina’s School Transformation Intervention. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 13(4), 702-730.
Link: https://www.edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/ai19-103.pdf
January 11, 2021
Barriers to Strategic Leadership in Education. The concept of strategic leadership has been in the discourse of corporate governance and management but in recent days, strategic leadership has become a concept in education literature. Strategic leadership is also relevant in education more especially in a PK-12 educational setting. This chapter focuses on the barriers that hinder strategic leadership in education. Overcoming the challenges will not only help PK-12 school leaders to become very effective but also will make them more efficient in their work as school leaders.
Citation: Cobbinah, J. E. (2020). Barriers to Strategic Leadership in Education. In Strategic Leadership in PK-12 Settings (pp. 82-93). IGI Global.
Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338300396_Barriers_to_Strategic_Leadership_in_Education
January 11, 2021
Implementation Science: Fidelity Predictions and Outcomes. This paper examines the importance of science in the effective implementation and sustainability of new practices and initiatives. The authors provide examples of significant attempts to remedy critical social issues over the past 50 years and how the failure of systematic implementation and, in particular, the lack of implementation fidelity has hindered progress in the use of practices found useful in research but have failed in the general application in the community.
Citation: Fixsen, D. L., Van Dyke, M., & Blase, K. A. (2019). Implementation Science: Fidelity Predictions and Outcomes. Retrieved from Chapel Hill, NC: Active Implementation Research Network: www.activeimplementation.org/resources.
Link: https://www.activeimplementation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Implementation-Science-FidelityPredictionsOutcomes.pdf
December 4, 2020
Using smartphones for formative assessment in the flipped classrooms. This paper describes different strategies used to incorporate smartphones to enhance teaching and learning effectively. The authors offer ways to integrate formative assessment with the use of smartphones. The paper provides innovative teaching practices to improve student understanding and performance using a classroom response system app. Results suggest that using this technology enhances student understanding of course concepts.
Citation. Onodipe, G., & Ayadi, M. F. (2020). Using smartphones for formative assessment in the flipped classroom. Journal of Instructional Pedagogies, 23.
Link: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1241944.pdf
November 17, 2020
Sustaining Teacher Training in a Shifting Environment. Brief No. 7. This brief is a part of a series of briefs that address critical issues schools face because of the coronavirus. This paper provides K-12 education policymakers and school administrators with an evidence base about how best to provide teacher practicum experience and professional development during the coronavirus. Evidence supports student teaching placements are a critical training opportunity for new teachers. The covid-19 pandemic has constrained student teaching experiences. Acknowledging this fact, educators need to develop new ways of providing alternative clinical training during certification training and when these new teachers enter the workforce. This summary examines what we know about training, offers strategies to overcome the obstacles to be confronted by covid-19, and warns professional development planners to avoided specific practices unsupported by evidence.
Citation: Goldhaber, D., & Ronfeldt, M. (2020). Sustaining Teacher Training in a Shifting Environment. Brief No. 7. EdResearch for Recovery Project.
Link: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED607712.pdf
November 16, 2020
Fidelity of implementation is a critical but often neglected component of any new system, practice, or intervention in educational research and practice. Fidelity is a multidimensional construct focused on providing evidence of adherence, quality, dosage, differentiation, and responsiveness following implementation. Unfortunately, fidelity has not always been prioritized, although evidence suggests that is changing, at least in published research. Further, although there are myriad methods for measuring fidelity, psychometric evaluations of fidelity tools have been limited, except in the SWPBIS literature. Calls for a science of fidelity have been made (Gresham, 2017) and are beginning to be answered. Overall, there appears to be more research focused exclusively on fidelity, including measurement approaches, psychometric evaluations, and relation to outcomes. As this research expands, we hope that the broad use and integration of fidelity in practice follows. We believe that the days of neglecting fidelity are behind us in education and see fidelity playing a central role in education moving forward. Through reliable and valid measurement of fidelity, scalable evidence-based practices can be developed and proliferated, positively impacting students’ academic and behavioral outcomes.
Citation: Gage, N., MacSuga-Gage, A., and Detrich, R. (2020). Fidelity of Implementation in Educational Research and Practice. Oakland, CA: The Wing Institute. https://www.winginstitute.org/systems-program-fidelity
Link: https://www.winginstitute.org/systems-program-fidelity
October 19, 2020
Tier I Implementation Supports for Classroom Management: A Pilot Investigation Targeting Teachers’ Praise. Research strongly supports the efficacy of classroom management strategies for improving conduct and academic achievement. Despite the compelling evidence-base on the potential impact of these strategies, teachers struggle to implement classroom management practices effectively. This study examines the effects of a pilot evaluation of an implementation support package for promoting teachers’ delivery of praise for students’ behavior. This research suggests the support package intervention increases teachers’ behavior-specific praise, heightened praise-to-correction ratios, and increases in students’ on-task behavior.
Citation: Zakszeski, B., Thomas, L., & Erdy, L. (2020). Tier I implementation supports for classroom management: A pilot investigation targeting teachers’ praise. School Psychology, 35(2), 111.
Links: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2020-13333-001
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339593423_Tier_I_Implementation_Supports_for_Classroom_Management_A_Pilot_Investigation_Targeting_Teachers%27_Praise
October 14, 2020
Sustaining and Scaling Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports: Implementation Drivers, Outcomes, and Considerations. Positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) is a system-wide conduct management approach designed to increase student behavior consistency in schools. PBIS was introduced with the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1997. This paper examines the 25-year history of the PBIS implementation experience, including the core features of PBIS as a multi-tiered framework and the process and outcomes for implementing PBIS across over 26,000 schools. The authors summarize the national outcome data of PBIS implementation, and they propose future directions and considerations, improving scaling up services and sustainability of school-wide behavior management strategies.
Citation: Sugai, G., & Horner, R. H. (2020). Sustaining and scaling positive behavioral interventions and supports: Implementation drivers, outcomes, and considerations. Exceptional Children, 86(2), 120-136.
Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0014402919855331
October 14, 2020
Using Coaching with Video Analysis to Improve Teachers’ Classroom Management Practices: Methods to Increase Implementation Fidelity. Research strongly supports effective classroom management as essential for quality instruction and teacher satisfaction. Unfortunately, in-service training for teachers in classroom management practices frequently fails to achieve the desired results. Didactic lectures do not offer sufficient opportunities to practice new techniques, and little time is available for feedback on the effective use of newly acquired skills. Coaching with embedded video-analysis is one method for providing teacher consultation services utilizing technology to record teaching sessions, watch and analyze recordings, identify a target area for improvement, and use the information gained to improve practice. As general education teachers’ role in working with students with challenging conduct grows, coaching with video-analysis may improve implementation fidelity and sustainability of evidence-based classroom management practices. This study finds coaching with video-analysis increased the implementation of evidence-based classroom management practices.
Citation: Lane, C., Neely, L., Castro-Villarreal, F., & Villarreal, V. (2020). Using Coaching with Video Analysis to Improve Teachers’ Classroom Management Practices: Methods to Increase Implementation Fidelity. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 28(3), 543-569.
Link: https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/215683/
