As we have seen with the hiccups, bumps in the road, and major potholes that have been part of the Affordable Care Act rollout, the key to any successful policy is not the policy itself but the implementation that surrounds it. It seems that every time I open a newspaper (I do prefer paper to online), watch a newscast, or listen to a conference presentation, I am reminded of the difficulties associated with bringing policy from the statehouse to the schoolhouse.

Since December is a time to reflect on the past, to plan strategically for the year that is beginning, and to make those silly New Year’s resolutions (my 2014 resolution is to submit my blog posts on time!), I thought I would dedicate this post to a reflection on my own implementations and offer suggestions for teachers, school administrators, regional coordinators, and state leaders planning implementations in 2014. At Teachstone, we will be highlighting the importance of implementation through blog posts, webinars, conference presentations, and the release of a new implementation guide throughout the next year.

As I reflect on the implementations in which I have been involved, it is not the large-scale state work that I have participated in during my time at Teachstone that taught me the most, but instead the work I did “in the trenches” as a special educator in small scale implementations in classrooms and schools. As an early childhood teacher, special education teacher, and school administrator, I had the amazing but frequently frustrating opportunity to work in public schools and early childhood settings when inclusion for children with special needs, particularly children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), was new to the field.

In the early 2000s, federal and state legislatures were pushing forward polices of inclusion—and school systems were receiving demands from parents to adhere to them—but most schools, classrooms, and teachers were ill prepared to implement these policies. Why were teachers ill prepared? It was certainly not due to a lack of understanding of the policy of inclusion, a commitment to educate all children, or care for the children entering their classroom for the first time. They were ill prepared because those individuals who sat at the statehouse enacting the policies, and their colleagues in state administrations who wrote the rules necessary to carry out the polices, did not take the necessary time to plan out the implementation (to be fair, in many situations this was out of their control due to political or budget issues). They did not take the steps necessary to answer the who, what, where, when, how much, how often, and why questions that must be addressed in every implementation, no matter how big or small.

Since I was often the individual asked to implement the policy, I began pulling together diverse groups of people to create new implementation plans. Many of these early implementations were not perfect. I have since learned that there are no perfect implementations, just implementations that run better than others due to diligent planning. These plans thrived because I was able to bring diverse individuals with broad perspectives to the planning table. Individuals came from the education and medical professions, school administration, professional development, and central office. We would look at the issue from the view of the parent, the child, the teacher, the therapist, the school administrator, the school nurse, and even the bus driver. We ensured that solutions did not just work for one or two of the perspectives but for all perspectives represented.

It was through this work that I developed my keys for successful implementations. Those of you who have worked with me in the field or at Teachstone, or have sat through a phone call, a webinar, or a conference presentation with me know that I end every conversation with these six planning questions:

  1. What can we do right away (in the next hour to month) to prepare everyone for the implementation and gain buy in?
  2. What can we do in the mid term (in the next few months) to move the plan forward, build capacity, and ensure traction?
  3. What can we do in the long term (in a few months to a year) to ensure the plan has staying power with people, budgets, and processes?
  4. How will this plan be communicated and who is responsible for the communication?
  5. Who else do we need to bring into this discussion to bring a broader range of perspectives?
  6. What are our next steps as a group to ensure we stay on track with the implementation?

In this simple way, I end every discussion no matter if it entails a small plan such as a training session or a large plan such as rolling out a multi-year Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS) with a model for the implementation. As you embark on planning for your 2014 implementations of new program, community, state or federal policies, make sure you begin and end every conversation with these six simple questions.

Good luck and do not hesitate to reach out to contact@teachstone.org and ask for me if you need another perspective.

You can also use the CLASS Implementation Guide as a resource in planning. Be on the look out for our new implementation guide in spring of 2014.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!