1. Integrated Systems to Support Implementation
PBS Leadership Forum 2009
Dean L. Fixsen
Michelle A. Duda
Barbara Sims
(c) Dean Fixsen and Karen Blase, 2009

2. Education Improvement
Innovative practices do not fare well in existing organizational structures and systems

3. Use Innovations for Student Benefits Teachers & Staff
Performance Assessment
Coaching
Systems
Intervention
Facilitative
Administration
Competency Drivers
Training
Adaptive
Organization Drivers
There are three categories of Implementation Drivers: Competency, Organization, and Leadership
When these core components are in place they provide the support to establish and maintain a successful implementation of an evidence-based practice or other innovation.
Competency Drivers are mechanisms that help to develop, improve, and sustain one’s ability to implement an intervention to benefit students. Competency Drivers include: Selection, Training, Coaching, and Performance Assessment
Organization Drivers are mechanisms to create and sustain hospitable organizational and systems environments for effective educational services. Organization Drivers include: Decision Support Data System, Facilitative Administration, and Systems Intervention
Leadership Drivers are methods to manage Technical problems where there is high levels of agreement about problems and high levels of certainty about solutions and to constructively deal with Adaptive challenges where problems are not clear and solutions are elusive
Integrated & Compensatory
Decision Support
Data System
Selection
Technical
Leadership
Graphics by Steve Goodman
© Fixsen & Blase, 2008 3

4. State
Department of Education Leadership
1 for the State
State Transformation Team
Selection, Training
Coaching, Evaluation Organization Supports
Systems Integration
1 for every 10 RITs
(N = 1.5 State Teams)
Regional Implementation Teams
Selection, Training
Coaching, Evaluation Organization Supports
Systems Integration
1 for every group of 4 District Teams (N = 15 Regional Teams)
“District” Leadership and Implementation Teams
Selection, Training
Coaching, Evaluation Organization Supports
Systems Integration
1 for every group of 30 Buildings (N = 60 District Teams)
How is Support Provided to 1,800 Schools, 100,000 Staff and 750,000 Students?
Building Leadership and Implementation Team
Selection, Training
Coaching, Evaluation Organization Supports
Systems Integration
1 for each School Building
(N = 1,800 Building Teams)
Fixsen, D. L., Naoom, S. F., Blase, K. A., Friedman, R. M., & Wallace, F. (2005). Implementation research: A synthesis of the literature. Tampa, FL: University of South Florida, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, National Implementation Research Network. (FMHI Publication No. 231).
Greenhalgh, T., Robert, G., MacFarlane, F., Bate, P., & Kyriakidou, O. (2004). Diffusion of innovations in service organizations: Systematic review and recommendations. The Milbank Quarterly, 82(4),
Building Teachers and Staff
Provide effective practices to educate and support students
All Students & Families
Improved academic and behavior outcomes
Graphics by Steve Goodman
© Fixsen & Blase, 2008

5. Implementation Science
Impl. Team
NO Impl. Team
80%, 3 Yrs
14%, 17 Yrs
Effective
INTERVENTION
NOT Effective
It takes an estimated average of 17 years for only 14% of new scientific discoveries to enter day-to-day clinical practice (Balas & Boren, 2000)
Balas EA, Boren SA. Yearbook of Medical Informatics: Managing Clinical Knowledge for Health Care Improvement. Stuttgart, Germany: Schattauer Verlagsgesellschaft mbH; 2000.
With the use of competent Implementation Teams, over 80% of the implementation sites were sustained for 6 years or more (up from 30%) and the time for them to achieve Certification was reduced to 3.6 years.
Fixsen, D. L., Blase, K. A., Timbers, G. D., & Wolf, M. M. (2001). In search of program implementation: 792 replications of the Teaching-Family Model. In G. A. Bernfeld, D. P. Farrington & A. W. Leschied (Eds.), Offender rehabilitation in practice: Implementing and evaluating effective programs (pp ). London: Wiley.

6. Costs and Savings
Fixsen, D. L., Collins, L.B., Phillips, E.L., & Thomas, D.L. (1982). Institutional indicators in evaluation: An example from Boys Town. In A. J. McSweeney, W. J. Fremouw & R. P. Hawkins (Eds.), Practical Program Evaluation in Youth Treatment. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.

7. Do the Math Outcome = .33 Teachers and Staff School Team District Team
Regional Team
State Transformation Team
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
0.80
Pressman, J. L., & Wildavsky, A. (1973). Implementation. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Outcome = .33

8. State Management Team SISEP System Change Support
Practice Informed Policy (PIP)
Implementation Team
Innovation
Teachers
Students
Policy Enabled Practice (PEP)
System Change
(c) Dean Fixsen, Karen Blase, Robert Horner, George Sugai, 2008 8 8

9. Making use of Science Letting it happen Helping it happen
Recipients are accountable
Helping it happen
Making it happen
Implementation teams are accountable
Based on Greenhalgh, Robert, MacFarlane, Bate, & Kyriakidou, 2004

10. Initiating and Managing Change
Implementation Team(s)
General Definition: Core group of individuals, who represent implementation expertise drawn from the various EBPs in use in a State, and who are charged with guiding the overall implementation process
Benefits: Provides a focused and accountable structure to increase the likelihood that this effort will be sustained over time
Scope of the initiative determines the scope of authority and the need for linked Implementation Teams

11. Implementation Team
A group that knows your state initiatives very well (formal and practice knowledge)
A group that knows how to implement innovations with fidelity and good effect
A group that accumulates data & experiential knowledge -- more effective and efficient over time (information economics, K. Arrow)

12. IMPLEMENTATION CAPACITY FOR SCALING UP EBPs
SISEP Support + 2 FTE
State
Management Group
Transformation
Team
Regional Implementation Team
N = 50 – 200 Schools
First Regional Implementation Team
Too many
overqualified
people
(c) Dean Fixsen, Karen Blase, Robert Horner, George Sugai, 2008 12 12

13. Implementation Team Functions
Moving the project through the stages of implementation
Ensuring that the implementation drivers needed for fidelity and sustainability are integrated and successfully embedded in the overall effort
Identify barriers and find solutions
Identify facilitators and institutionalize them

15. Integrated Training SSOS ITTAAP ISTAC-P RTI READING FIRST SAC CHOICES
SEL
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
PBIS

16. Common Core Concepts
Collaborative Efforts for School Improvement for All Students
Standards Aligned Curriculum
Evidenced-based Practices
Differentiation for Academic and Behavior
Sustainability
Family
3 Tiered Model of Intervention
District Leadership
Team Based Implementation
Universal Screening
Data-based Decision Making
Progress Monitoring

18. Common Core Elements Leadership & Commitment
Family & Community Partners
Team Based Implementation
Data Based Decision Process
Evidence Based Practices
Professional Development & Coaching

19. Non-Negotiables Family involvement/driven
District leadership team -- external and internal coach structure
Direct teaching and pre-corrections
Communication to entire staff
Guided practice with feedback
Reinforcement
Data based decision making with universal screener and progress monitoring
Problem solving protocol with decision rules
Differentiated Instruction

20. Non-Negotiables
Understanding for ALL the three tiered model of support
Access and equity including LRE/EE students in their home school and least restrictive intervention/environment 
Coaching:  7 norms, effective meetings, and data driven 
Teaming/collaborating 
Adaptations 
Effective classroom teaching strategies 
Teaming 
Professional learning communities 

22. Integrated System for Student Achievement
District System:

23. Integrated System for Student Achievement
Develop a multi-tiered statewide system of school improvement making education more effective and more efficient
Support districts in the development of an infrastructure and processes necessary to implement and sustain evidence based practices
Work within the context of the District Improvement Plan, this support will include a focus on the core elements

24. Supporting Social Competence, Academic Achievement and Safety
OUTCOMES
Supporting
Student
Behavior
Supporting
Decision
Making
PRACTICES
DATA
SWPBS: Four Elements
SWPBS builds from a focus on student Outcomes: academic achievement, social competence, and safety.
SWPBS “Practices” are the behaviors of adults that affect how students perform. These are the daily, classroom, and on-going discipline practices of the school
SWPBS “Systems” are the organizational decisions and structures that support effective STAFF Behavior. A major strength of SWPBS is the emphasis on practices delivered WITH the systems needed to support the practices.
The use of data for decision-making is the single most important system within SWPBS. This element is used both to ensure the SWPBS practices are tailored to the local context/culture, and to benefit the continuous regeneration needed for sustained implementation.
SYSTEMS
Supporting
Staff Behavior 24

26. District Leadership Team
Necessary
Superintendent (or designee)
Director of Curriculum & Instruction
Director of Special Education
Board Member
Family member (not a district employee)
Union representative
District Level Coach*
Encouraged
ROE
RESPRO
Community Partner
Principal
Data Manager
Special Ed Cooperative Representative

27. Approach to Districts Installation District team membership
ISSA Agreement
3-6 meetings to address core concepts
Initial Implementation
Development of Action Plan via District Improvement Plan
Using Timetable start building system
Problem Solve with District as roadblocks occur
Collect information about what policies/practices need changing
Work to resolve on regional/state/federal level
(c) Dean Fixsen and Karen Blase, 2008 27

28. For More Information www.scalingup.org “Resources” Tab
State Implementation and Scaling up of Evidence-based Practices (SISEP)
Dean Fixsen, Karen Blase, Rob Horner, George Sugai
“Resources” Tab
Concept paper
Annotated bibliography
Data on scaling up
Scaling up Briefs 28

29. For More Information Dean L. Fixsen, Ph.D. Michelle A. Duda, Ph.D.
Michelle A. Duda, Ph.D.
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 29

30. For More Information Implementation Research:
A Synthesis of the Literature
Fixsen, D. L., Naoom, S. F., Blase, K. A., Friedman, R. M. & Wallace, F. (2005). Implementation Research: A Synthesis of the Literature. Tampa, FL: University of South Florida, Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, The National Implementation Research Network (FMHI Publication #231).
Download all or part of the monograph at:   30

31. Thank You We thank the following for their support
Annie E. Casey Foundation (EBPs and cultural competence)
William T. Grant Foundation (implementation literature review)
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (implementation strategies grants; NREPP reviews; SOC analyses of implementation; national implementation awards)
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (implementation research contract)
National Institute of Mental Health (research and training grants)
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (program development and evaluation grants
Office of Special Education Programs (Capacity Development Center contract)
Agency for Children and Families (Child Welfare Leadership Development contract) 31 31