1. Nisonger Center
Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges Strategies for Sustaining Intervention Impact
Margo V. Izzo, PhD, Principal Investigator
Alexa Murray, Program Manager
Andrew Buck, Learning and Development Consultant
This presentation and related EIT products were produced under the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE), Office of Special Education Programs Grant H327S

2. Presentation Objectives/Agenda
Share experiences and lessons learned from the Scaling-Up EnvisionIT project
Discuss additional barriers and strategies for achieving intervention sustainability

3. Sustainability

4. Fidelity Versus Sustainability
How do you achieve fidelity for an innovative intervention that requires a flexible and customizable approach in order to achieve sustainability across diverse sites?
The focus of the USDOE OSEP Stepping-Up Technology Implementation Program is more on scaling-up and sustaining an intervention than pure research.

5. Balancing Project Priorities: Fidelity
Slide 5
Balancing Project Priorities: Fidelity
Fidelity
Sustainability
Uniformity
Protocol
Replication
Generalizability
Relevance
Cost Per Pupil
Accessibility

6. Balancing Project Priorities: Sustainability
Slide 6
Balancing Project Priorities: Sustainability
Fidelity
Sustainability
Relevance
Cost Per Pupil
Accessibility
Customizability
Protocol
Replication
Generalizability

7. Barriers to Sustainability
Competing school or district priorities
Lack of resources (e.g., technology, staff)
School restructuring and schedule changes
Lack of teacher/administrator support

8. Barriers to Sustainability
Bureaucracy especially in large urban districts
Inaccurate perceptions regarding curriculum value/purpose
Resistance to change including unwillingness to integrate EIT into school goals or infrastructure

9. Strategies that Encourage Sustainability (School)
Simultaneous teacher and administrator champions
Customizability of EIT to allow teachers to help meet student learning or administrators to help meet school/district needs

10. Strategies that Encourage Sustainability (School)
Availability of EIT across digital platforms
Availability of sample course models as well as full curriculum
Availability of training and teacher resources (e.g., curriculum pacing guides, site maps)

11. Strategies that Encourage Sustainability (School)
Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs)
Ongoing in-person or online training including encouraging teacher leaders to train other teachers
Evidence of effectiveness (research/anecdotal)

12. Strategies that Encourage Sustainability (State/National)
Strong partnerships between State Education Agencies (SEAs) and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in order to recruit and train schools/districts on using, adapting, and integrating EIT into school/district infrastructure
Promotion of, and training on, EIT through state-sponsored professional development networks, teams, and venues
State Support Teams, Educational Service Centers, ODE LMS (OH)
State Education Resource Center and Community of Practice (CT)

13. Strategies that Encourage Sustainability (State/National)
A Request for Applications process to recruit states and build capacity to sustain the intervention in those states
Partnerships with national organizations for distribution through their networks

14. Strategies that Encourage Sustainability (State/National)
Leveraging EIT as a resource to help comply with federal mandates and/or enhance district or state initiatives
Federal: IDEA, IEP, ESSA, and WIOA alignment
Ohio
Career Advising Policy and Ohio Means Jobs website
Career Counseling Pilot and Innovative Strategies grants
Connecticut
Student Success Plans
CT CORE Transition Skills

15. Implementation Science Framework Case Study

16. Installation Initial Training Fidelity Visits Technical Assistance
On-site computer lab or classroom setting
Schedule times with teacher to observe class
Maintain regular communication with sites
Structured, yet customized, agenda
Complete fidelity checklist and assess coaching needs
Address specific issues quickly, case-by-case
Interactive to promote practice and group work
Ask teacher to complete a fidelity checklist as self-assessment
Post general responses and updates online
PD resources and system supports
Respond to questions, gather feedback, provide support and coaching
Encourage group to share resources, ideas, and questions online
End goal is ability to use intervention effectively
End goal is improving fidelity and rapport
End goal is enhancing support and capacity

17. Initial Implementation
Implementation Driver
Activity (Ohio Rural High School)
Competency
Enact communication protocols
Schedule site visits, observe & assess fidelity
Maintain regular communication
Execute coaching plan
Assess fidelity, review results with teachers
Provide immediate feedback
Organization
Measure and
report outcomes
Gauge student outcomes through pre-post quizzes in EIT units
Collect pretest-posttest data and present findings to key personnel
report fidelity
Gauge teacher performance with assessment
Update training, coaching, fidelity checklist
Leadership
Review recommendations
for process improvement
Differentiate curriculum for students with and without disabilities and across grade levels
Implement curriculum in an inclusive classroom (i.e., freshman seminar elective)

18. Full Implementation Ohio Rural High School
First two years: EIT implemented as a co-taught special education semester elective, but issues w/ cognitive accessibility
Third and fourth year: EIT implemented in an inclusive general education freshman seminar course, Transitions and Careers, Family & Consumer Sciences
Fifth and sixth year: Additional semester elective added for upperclassmen using second half of the curriculum (i.e., College and Career Readiness/21st Century Skills)
EIT is now also being used to support Work Study program and Student Success Center as credit recovery course

19. Strategies That Work and EIT Sustainability Surveys

20. Survey
Qualtrics online survey developed by committee in 2017 to collect process information about project implementation, scale-up, and sustainability lessons
Distributed to OSEP Stepping-Up Technology Implementation Program Grant Cohorts 8-12 representing initial grant awards from 2012 to 2016

21. Questions
What is it that you know now that would have been really helpful or useful to know at the start of your project?
Knowing what you know now, how can a particular challenge be avoided or successfully confronted?
What resources (e.g., as tools, knowledge, relationships, monies, etc.) did you/are you/will you acquire, develop, enhance, or leverage in order to promote implementation, scale-up, and sustainability of the innovation?

22. Questions
In your opinion, what is the most significant factor or set of factors that contribute to the successful implementation of your innovation?
Add your own lesson/strategy learned from project.

23. Categories of Lessons/Strategies
Technology development/refinement
Training/professional development/instructional coaching
Fidelity of technology implementation
Research design/measurement
Field testing
Site recruitment
Product dissemination/distribution
Scale-up and sustainability
Quality assurance
Buy-in or support from stakeholders
Other: please indicate:

24. Response Rate A total of 21 individuals responded to the survey
14 projects out of 20 were represented (70%)

25. Results: Descriptive Categories

26. Results: Qualitative Feedback
40-pages of single spaced comments distilled into 15-pages: Strategies That Work Survey Handout
Decision was made to preserve meaning and retain integrity of direct quotes while highlighting key points

27. EnvisionIT Sustainability Survey
Most common reasons for implementing/sustaining EIT:
Ability to customize the curriculum for students
Administrative support
Value EIT to help teach 21st Century literacy skills
Value EIT to help teach career skills
Value the student Transition Portfolio
Using EIT to meet state/federal mandates

28. Recommendations (Projects)
Consider sustainability planning from Year 1
Approach implementation of technology and programs at each site as a long-range intervention, not simply as a pilot
Maximum impact requires strategic capacity building
Projects should implement training, PD, and sustainability surveys through Years 3-5 to inform effective PD
PD should be able to stand alone and teach others how to implement the intervention effectively

29. Recommendations (OSEP)
Continue building upon the Strategies That Work Survey with different cohorts
Continue to house and share projects’ products, process information and survey results online (i.e., Stepping-Up Technology combined cohort website)
Continue to host conference calls and program area meetings focused on sustainability

30. Group Discussion

31. Discussion Question 1 In your projects:
What challenges have you experienced with implementing and sustaining products or interventions?
How did you work around these challenges?

32. Discussion Question 2 In your projects:
What strategies did you employ in order to increase the use and sustainability of your products or interventions?
Were these strategies successful?

33. Discussion Question 3
In your projects, who were the implementation drivers or key players that enhanced success of your products or interventions?

34. Discussion Question 4
Think about a current or recent project you directed or helped implement. Knowing what you know now, what aspect of the project would you have done differently in order to augment project success?

35. Discussion Question 5
What additional barriers have discouraged the success or sustainability of your project, and how has your team addressed or solved these problems?

36. Slide 36
Contact Information

37. Funding Support and Disclaimer
This presentation and related EIT products were produced under the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE), Office of Special Education Programs Grant H327S (CFDA S). The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or polices of the USDOE. No official endorsement by the USDOE of any product, commodity, service, or enterprise mentioned in this presentation is intended or should be inferred.

38. Funding Support and Disclaimer
There are no copyright restrictions on this document. However, please cite and credit the source when copying all or part of this document. This document was supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (Award H027A160111A, CFDA A, awarded to the Ohio Department of Education). The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, and no official endorsement by the Department should be inferred.

39. Slide 39