For the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, Drs. Lisa Sanetti and Mel Collier-Meek, co-directors of Sustain Collaborative, presented a model of implementation aligned with school-based initiatives across four sessions. Sessions included tangible strategies and takeaways to help administrators harness implementation science to effectively support school-based change. 

School-based Implementation – Why You Should Care & Where to Start

This session provided an overview of (1) why implementation science and practice are critical to optimizing student outcomes; (2) a model of implementation that aligns with school-based initiatives; and (3) four key activities to Explore, the first phase of implementation: attending to context, identifying needs, mapping resources, and de-implementing competing initiatives. 

School-based Implementation – Failing to Prepare is Preparing to Fail 

This session provided an overview of the four key activities of Prepare, the second and most overlooked phase of implementation: identifying and addressing barriers and facilitators of implementation initiatives, adapting initiatives to work in your school, planning for implementation support, and defining implementation outcomes. 

School-based Implementation – Actually Making Implementation Happen   

This session provided an overview of the four key activities of Implement, the third phase of implementation: evaluating outcomes and making defensible data-based decisions, providing a continuum of supports, sustaining a supportive implementation climate, and celebrating successes and supporting learnings. 

School-based Implementation – Sustaining Through Inevitable Change   

This session provided an overview of the four key activities of the Sustain phase of implementation: taking a continuous improvement perspective, evaluating implementation efforts, adapting to meet needs, and focusing on implementation in hiring and on-boarding.