Ok. It’s no secret.
Just having professional development doesn’t mean that your initiative is going to get implemented or implemented well. It doesn’t mean that your initiative will have it’s desired effect on your school.
Sure. PD is critical to getting where you’re going. But it isn’t sufficient.
Level of implementation matters.
A lot.
It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to get better at implementing your laptops, or you’re using Bright Futures to look at your middle level practice, or if you’re working on a literacy initiative, or implementing the Common Core, or on Customized Learning, if you want your initiative to have the impact you’re looking for, then you need to insure that you have a high level of implementation with a high level of fidelity.
So, how do you get to a high level of implementation with a high level of fidelity?
The answer is possitive pressure and support.
Positive pressure and support has three easy pieces: expect, supervise, & support.
Expecting includes strategies like starting simple, participating yourself in trainings and meetings, having teachers set goals, and collaboratively setting expectations.
Supervising includes checking with teachers, talking about implementation at meetings, doing walk throughs, and talking about the walk through and level of implementation data.
Finally, support includes things like celebrating successes, facilitating the sharing of ideas, providing opportunities for PD (of course!), providing resources, and removing barriers and running interference.
How could positive pressure and support help your work at your school?
