WHY focus on Implementation?
Education is the cornerstone of society. The "reformers" in the mid-1800s started the movement toward a free and appropriate public education. By the 1970s, education was mandated for all children regardless of race, gender, or ability. Research on education has produced a catalogue of best practices for curriculum, instruction, and behavior. This extensive evidence base now makes it possible to hope for a free, appropriate, and effective public education system.
It is now abundantly clear that the best education practices in the world are wasted unless educators use them when interacting with students. Too often, effective programs are not implemented as intended, not sustained, or not used on a sufficient scale to impact all students. This is known as the implementation gap.
In order for all students to benefit, we must support both WHAT interventions have been selected and the implementation strategies that ensure HOW to do it.
Students cannot benefit from innovations they do not experience.
Not only do we need effective programs, we need effective implementation strategies to make sure WHAT we are trying to do is actually put into practice and used as intended.
SISEP Focuses on Implementation Capacity
The SISEP Center uses implementation strategies to do two important things:
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Build capacity in districts to assure adequate implementation supports for school leaders, staff, and teachers. In this way, the building leaders, teachers, and staff can make full and effective uses of evidence-based programs when interacting with students.
- Students cannot benefit from effective education practices they do not experience.
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An effective practice is only half of the formula for success; effective implementation support is the other half. Neither one is useful to student education without the other.
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Build capacity in State systems and regional organizations so they can develop the necessary district implementation supports.
- District staff cannot provide competent implementation supports to schools and teachers unless the district staff develop these new competencies themselves.
- In effect, the State and regional staff are using implementation strategies to develop implementation capacity in districts.
The contents of the site were developed under a grant from the US Department of Education. However, the contents of this website not necessarily represent the policy of the US Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.