1. C3 – Applying Implementation Science to State & District Level PBIS Systems
Steve Goodman, Michigan's Integrated Behavior & Learning Support Initiative
Carol Randall, Vermont Agency of Education

2. Maximizing Your Session Participation
When Working In Your Team
Consider 4 questions:
Where are we in our implementation?
What do I hope to learn?
What did I learn?
What will I do with what I learned?

3. Where are you in the implementation process
Where are you in the implementation process? Adapted from Fixsen & Blase, 2005
We think we know what we need so we are planning to move forward (evidence-based)
Exploration & Adoption
Let’s make sure we’re ready to implement (capacity infrastructure)
Installation
Let’s give it a try & evaluate (demonstration)
Initial Implementation
That worked, let’s do it for real and implement all tiers across all schools (investment)
Let’s make it our way of doing business & sustain implementation (institutionalized use)
Full Implementation

4. Leadership Team Action Planning Worksheets: Steps
Self-Assessment: Accomplishments & Priorities
Leadership Team Action Planning Worksheet
Session Assignments & Notes: High Priorities
Team Member Note-Taking Worksheet
Action Planning: Enhancements & Improvements

5. Implementation Science: Overview

6. Active Implementation Frameworks
Making It Happen
Active Implementation Frameworks
Effective & Usable Interventions
EFFECTIVE & USABLE INTERVENTIONS
What exactly are people saying and doing that makes things better for children, adults, and families?
STAGES
What steps lead to successful implementation?
DRIVERS
What critical supports are needed to make this change? What is the infrastructure?
TEAMS
Who takes responsibility for and helps guide the change process?
IMPROVEMENT CYCLES
How can we create more hospitable environments, efficiently solve problems and get better?
Stages
Drivers
©Copyright Dean Fixsen and Karen Blase.  This content is licensed under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs. You are free to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work under the following conditions: Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work); Noncommercial — You may not use this work for commercial purposes; No Derivative Works — You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.  Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. 
The value of frameworks is
To promote the ability to generalize beyond the immediate project or initiative
To enhance communication among partners (e.g. better understanding of one another)
To more easily share and apply improvements
To increase the relevance of the “lessons learned”
We want to move from “making lists”. . .
. . .to “making sense”
Teams
Cycles
©Copyright Dean Fixsen and Karen Blase 
(c) Dean Fixsen and Karen Blase, 2012

7. Stages of Implementation
Implementation is not an event
The stages describe the current state of implementation within a district.
The stages provide a framework to identify key activities and accomplishments that would expedite progress in implementation efforts.
The speed at which schools/districts move through the stages of implementation vary, based on the experience of staff and allocation of resources.

8. Stages of Implementation
Focus
Stage
Description
Exploration/Adoption
Decision regarding commitment to adopting the program/practices and supporting successful implementation.
Installation
Set up infrastructure so that successful implementation can take place and be supported. Establish team and data systems, conduct audit, develop plan.
Initial Implementation
Try out the practices, work out details, learn and improve before expanding to other contexts.
Elaboration
Expand the program/practices to other locations, individuals, times- adjust from learning in initial implementation.
Continuous Improvement/Regeneration
Make it easier, more efficient. Embed within current practices.
Should we do it?
Work to do it right!
Implementation of reading and behavior MTSS is a process that takes place over time (stages of Implementation). Within a school setting, this process may take 2 – 4 years; district-wide, this process will take many more years to achieve. It is important to remember that we should not expect to see change in student outcomes until effective practices have been implemented with fidelity.
Work to do it better!

9. The Infrastructure for Change
Implementation Drivers
Help to develop, improve, and sustain educators’ competence and confidence to implement effective educational practices and supports.
Help ensure sustainability and improvement at the organization and systems level
Help guide leaders to use the right leadership strategies for the situation
(c) Dean Fixsen and Karen Blase, 2004

10. Competency Drivers Organization Drivers Leadership Drivers
Performance Assessment (fidelity)
Integrated & Compensatory
Competency Drivers
Organization Drivers
Leadership Drivers
Consistent and Competent Use of Effective Innovations
Better Outcomes for Students
Integrated & Compensatory
Why:
What:
Help to develop, improve, and sustain teachers’ and staff’s competence and confidence to implement effective practices
Help ensure sustainability and improvement at the school and District levels
How:
Help guide leaders to use the right leadership strategies for the situation
© Fixsen & Blase, 2008 10

11. Implementation Drivers
Performance Assessment (fidelity)
Coaching
Training
Selection
Integrated & Compensatory
Systems
Intervention
Facilitative
Administration
Decision Support
Data System
Competency Drivers
Organization Drivers
Leadership Drivers
Consistent and Competent Use of Effective Innovations
Better Outcomes for Students
Integrated & Compensatory
© Fixsen & Blase, 2008 11

12. Pause, reflect and record…

13. Applying Implementation Science to State & District Level PBIS Systems
The Vermont Implementation Story

14. Population: 630,000 Schools: 300 Students: 80,000 SU/SD: 59 School boards: 285

15. 2007: 3 schools in 1 supervisory union 2014: 128 schools (43%)
PBIS Participation
2007:
3 schools in
1 supervisory union
2014:
128 schools (43%)
in 50 supervisory
unions (85%)

16. Feedback Loops Support Loops
Vermont’s Cascade
Feedback Loops
State
Planning & Technical Assistance
Regional Training & Coaching
feedback and data on implementation efforts
SU/District Leadership Team
District Team
School Leadership Team
Support Loops
supports for effective practices implemented with fidelity
School Staff, Students & Families

17. Lesson Learned: Training Capacity

19. Lesson Learned: Coaching Capacity

20. Coaching Delivery Model Defined at each level of the cascade
across implementation stages
selection, training, TA & accountability
delivery method
The Vermont PBIS Framework for Technical Assistance,
Coaching and Coordination is on our website.

21. Gradual Release and Transfer
build capacity at the regional, SU/District and school levels
recursive process with new practices
“A coach is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.”
Thomas Carruthers

22. Lesson Learned: Capacity to Use Data
select the correct tool and learn it well
systems: roles, time and access

23. Capacity building for scale-up of Multi-tiered System of Supports
On the Vermont horizon….
Capacity building for scale-up of
Multi-tiered System of Supports

24. Second Order Change New way of seeing things Shifting gears
Irreversible
Transformation to something quite different
Requires new learning
A NEW story is told

25. Vermont’s Multi-tiered System of Supports

26. Five Components Effective Collaboration
Expertise (Well Designed Professional Learning)
High Quality Instruction and Intervention
Comprehensive and Balanced Assessment System
Systemic and Comprehensive Approach

27. State-wide Context Setting Vermont’s Education Quality Standards
host
environment
VT MTSS Field Guide & Self Assessment
SWIFT
K-12 vtMTSS
(MTSS-B)
PBIS
School Effectiveness Indicators

28. Vermont Aligned AYP Indicators of Effective Practices with the 5 Components of VT MTSS

29. K-12 vtMTSS: We will meet you where you are and support you in reaching your VT MTSS vision for ALL learners.
Fidelity to the model with differentiation in starting point and timeline

30. External Systems Coach Build Capacity in SU/School Leadership Team
Dialog about WHY VT MTSS?
Launch the VT MTSS Self-Assessment
Facilitate VT MTSS Implementation Rubrics
Guide the Data2Action process

31. Fidelity Conversation: Strengths and Areas for Attention
components
Created by Vermont Reads Institute and Vermont Statewide Steering Committee on RTII

32. Implementation Conversation: What is our capacity to implement…?
components
stages
drivers
VT AOE – State Personnel Development Grant

33. Actionable Information Applied to Continuous Improvement Planning
Adapted from Western Heights Independent School District, PLC Data Analysis Template 2008

34. Training and Support for Content:
Build Capacity of Instructional Staff
Math
Literacy
Behavior
UDL

35. Don’t reinvent the wheel!

36. What are your questions?

37.
Michigan Example

38. Michigan’s Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MiBLSi)
A statewide structure to create capacity for an integrated Behavior and Reading Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) that can be implemented with fidelity, is sustainable over time and utilizes data-based decision making at all levels of implementation support

39. Moving from Model Demonstration to Standard Practice
Modifying System for Standard Practice
Examine Feasibility/Efficacy of Practice Being Developed
Embed within existing work: Provide access as current practice
Model Demonstration: Does it work in a specific setting with a specific population?
Replications:
Can it be reproduced in different settings with different populations?
Scale-Up:
Increase “reach” of practice to critical mass of implementation
Invest heavily in resources to produce results
Utilize typical/existing resources

40. Why we moved from school to district model…
Schools do not always get to criteria for fidelity of implementation.
Schools do not always maintain implementation efforts.
Supporting a school based participation model cannot be scaled and is not durable as district based.

41. Statewide Structure of Support
Provides guidance, visibility, funding, political support for MiBLSi
Students
Building Staff
Building Leadership Team
LEA District Cabinet and Implementation Team
Across State
Multiple ISD/LEA Teams
All staff
All students
Multiple schools w/in local district
Provides guidance, visibility, funding, political support, and implementation supports
Provides coaching and TA for LEA and/or ISD Teams
Provides guidance and manages implementation
Provides effective practices to support students
Improved behavior and reading
ISD Cabinet and Implementation Team
Regional Technical Assistance
Michigan
Department of Education/MiBLSi Leadership
Multiple LEAs w/in intermediate district
Who is supported?
This stair step of a cascading system illustrates that there are units within educational systems that build upon each other and are connected through feedback loops and mechanisms of support
How is support provided?
Statewide Structure of Support

42. Framework for Addressing Practice and Supports
Supporting Infrastructure (Implementation)
Contextual Focus
Practices (Innovation)
This figure displays the importance placed on practices and supporting structures. As the structures move further away from direct student instruction, less emphasis is placed on the idiosyncratic aspects of the practice and more emphasis is placed on the infrastructure to support the implementation of the practice.
Teacher
Grade Level Team
Building Team
Local Education Agency Team
Intermediate School District Team
State Education Agency Team
Unit of Implementation
Focus on Practices
Focus on Support

43. Leadership Function of District Teams
Cabinet Level Team
Implementation
Planning Team
Vision
Political support
Priority
Visibility
Allocation of resources
Barrier busting 1
Collect, summarize, evaluate data
Develop district plan
Coordinate and monitor plan
Create/modify materials and tools
Identify barriers to implementation 3
Coordination
Coordinations between the Cainet and the Implementation Planning Team includes communication around four variable:
Need to know
Nice to know
Don’t need to know
Need to act on 2

44. Transformation Zone: Make it easy to change
Transformational Process: Developing “Host Environments” for MTSS Implementation with Fidelity
Existing System of Practice
Transformation Zone: Make it easy to change
Desired System of Practice: Make it easy to sustain
Implementation Teams
This figure depicts the transformation zone as the place to transition from “what is” (the left hand side) to “what is envisioned” (the right hand side). We call the transformation zone the “zone of discomfort” in recognition of the difficulties inherent in changing the ways of work among teachers, building administrators, district staff, individuals and leaders within the state education system, and parents and stakeholders.
Analyze existing system of practice
Develop Plan
Coordinate and monitor Create/modify materials
Identify barriers to implementation
Modify plan for continuous improvement
Adjust system to address new challenges/pressures to implementation fidelity
Coordinate and monitor

45. Intermediate School District (ISD)
Multi-Tiered System of Support Supports (MTSS) Structure
Vision
Priority
Funding
Political support
Implementation Team
Cabinet Team
Planning
Coordination
Technical Support
Liaison
Feedback
Loop
MTSS Coordinator
MTSS Technical Assistance /Professional Development Providers
In Michigan we break down an implementation team into three functions: administration, coordination/management, and TA/PD delivery. What are the risks and benefits for conceptualizing in this way?
This team provides for the application of implementation drivers.
MTSS Delivery
Training
Coaching
Technical Assistance
Local Education Agencies
Schools

46. Stages of Implementation
Focus
Stage
Description
Exploration/Adoption
Decision regarding commitment to adopting the program/practices and supporting successful implementation.
Installation
Set up infrastructure so that successful implementation can take place and be supported. Establish team and data systems, conduct audit, develop plan.
Initial Implementation
Try out the practices, work out details, learn and improve before expanding to other contexts.
Elaboration
Expand the program/practices to other locations, individuals, times- adjust from learning in initial implementation.
Continuous Improvement/Regeneration
Make it easier, more efficient. Embed within current practices.
Should we do it?
Work to do it right!
Implementation of reading and behavior MTSS is a process that takes place over time (stages of Implementation). Within a school setting, this process may take 2 – 4 years; district-wide, this process will take many more years to achieve. It is important to remember that we should not expect to see change in student outcomes until effective practices have been implemented with fidelity.
Work to do it better!

47. Exploration/Adoption Installation Initial Implementation
Focus of Work:
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
ISD
Cabinet
ISD Implementation
Team
ISD Implementation Team
LEA
Cabinet
LEA Implementation
Team
LEA Implementation Team
Admin
Teams
This slide illustrates a timeline of the focus of the work over the rest of the current school year and into the next.
Admin
Teams
School
Teams
Exploration/Adoption
Installation
Initial Implementation

48. Developing Intermediate School District (ISD) Infrastructure
Developing the structures to help Local Education Agencies (LEAs) develop support structures or to directly support school implementation
This figure illustrates a map of Michigan with dots representing Intermediate School Districts. The intermediate School Districts are clustered together for training purposes as demonstrated by the circles around each cluster of Intermediate School Districts.
District Cohort 1
District Cohort 2
Readiness work for District Cohort 3

49. Developing LEA Infrastructure
Accessing implementation support from ISD
This figure illustrates a map of Michigan with dots representing Intermediate School Districts with their constituent local school districts. The intermediate School District along with constituent local school districts are clustered together for training purposes as demonstrated by the circles around each cluster of Intermediate School Districts and constituent local districts.
District Cohort 1
District Cohort 2
Readiness work for District Cohort 3
LEA

50. Training School Teams Accessing implementation support from LEA or ISD
This figure illustrates a map of Michigan with dots representing Intermediate School Districts with their constituent local school districts and schools. The intermediate School District along with constituent local school districts and school are clustered together for training purposes as demonstrated by the circles around each cluster of Intermediate School Districts, constituent local districts and schools.
District Cohort 1
District Cohort 2
Readiness work for District Cohort 3
LEA
School

51. The number of schools to be selected for involvement in your training plan will depend on the constant tension of three factors regarding implementation
Resource Allocation
Moving through the stages:
How fast you move through these stages will depend on the constant tension of three factors regarding implementation illustrated in the figure. If you want quality implementation, then you may need either more time to engage implementation work or you may need more resources allocated to get the work done.
Implementation Quality
Implementation Timeframe

52. Lessons Learned Support for first 50 schools (model demonstrations)
Support for first 500 schools (learning how to scale and support implementation in complex systems)
Support for scaling and beyond (becoming standard practice of how we do education)

53. Supporting Infrastructure
Use existing structures to scale up the work
No new funding available, need to be creative with existing funding stream
Re-allocate staff
Organize around efficiencies to make room for the work

54. Local Context Counts
Emphasize adoption of critical non- negotiable “Big Ideas”
Allow for contextual variations in implementation of “Big Ideas”