Key Action III.1

Check In Regularly And Make Quick Fixes

What is the goal?

The goal of this key action is to enact the plan you developed in Phase II, observe what works and what does not, and listen to feedback. In particular, this key action is about effectively enacting your plans for supporting teachers and leaders that you outlined in Key Actions II.4–II.6. It also includes checking in as a team and making quick fixes to improve or clarify plans that help keep the momentum going.

This key action is a recurring one. Before each check-in meeting, team members should follow the guided questions and notes presented in Step III.1.A: See the work in action and listen to questions and concerns. Step III.1.B: Check in to track the trends and solve quick problems then offers questions and resources to guide each check-in meeting. After each check-in, go back to Step III.1.A to support your ongoing observation, data gathering, and reflection.

Why this key action is important

Plans tend to fall along a spectrum. On one end, they are printed documents, put away in a binder on the shelf and gathering dust, and on the other end, they are living, breathing drivers of the work that are shared across a team. This key action is where the rubber meets the road and everyone begins to enact the plan. It can be difficult to lose momentum or focus when confronted with the daily pulls and pressures of school life. This key action builds on the plans determined at the end of Phase II for progress monitoring, and it focuses on consistent reflection. One of the differentiators between successful implementers and implementers who struggled was their ability to support teacher practice. The work of the Three Pillars of Teacher Support is challenging because of the diversity of factors involved, such as instructional culture, team expertise, and structural support. As you go through this key action, it can be helpful to return to your plans in Phase II, Key Actions 4–6 to see where to improve. The central goal for this key action is to do the work, observe the outcome, listen closely to all involved, and make quick fixes that help keep the momentum going. In the next key action (III.2), teams come together quarterly to compare notes, analyze data, discuss key challenges and opportunities, and make more substantive adjustments.

Explanation of language

We use the term check-in to refer to brief yet regularly occurring meetings of the Implementation Support Team (or certain members of the Implementation Support Team) focused on documenting observations and feedback, monitoring progress, and making quick fixes. Quarterly stepback meetings—the focus of the next key action—are typically longer and more formal, include the entire Implementation Support Team, and focus on analyzing data, discussing larger challenges and opportunities, and adjusting plans.

steps

guiding questions

notes & resources

  • 1.
    What are the plans? Based on those plans, what should you be seeing in terms of curriculum use and support?
  • 2.
    How are teachers and leaders using the curriculum right now?
  • 3.
    What is training like right now?
  • 4.
    What is planning like right now?
  • 5.
    What is coaching like right now?
  • Try to observe as many aspects of implementation as possible to gather a full picture of how it’s going. The resource Implementation Observation Guidance is a list of the key interactions and look fors that early implementers benefited from observing in order to understand how things were going. Some early implementers created shared documents to pool observations and impressions.
  • 6.
    What sources of data are informing your understanding of how implementation is going right now (e.g., classroom observations, observations of planning meetings, conversations with teachers)?
  • 7.
    What other data might be helpful or important to get?
  • 8.
    How are teachers, leaders, and other stakeholders feeling about the materials right now? What questions, concerns, or feedback do they have?
  • Listen to questions, concerns, and feedback. Listen for the pattern underneath the questions and listen for where the concerns are coming from.
  • 1.
    How is implementation going?
  • 2.
    Based on our observations and conversations, what is going well?
  • 3.
    Based on our observations and conversations, where are we having challenges?
  • 4.
    What are the key deadlines? Where are we on track? What is not yet happening that should be happening?
  • 5.
    What, if anything, is pulling focus away from curriculum implementation? What needs to change to get the work done well?
  • 6.
    How are teachers, leaders, and other stakeholders responding to the materials?
  • Take time to share your observations, conversations, and any other data you’ve gathered in your Implementation Observation Log. Be careful to base your reflections on concrete data and examples, not just vibes or personal opinions.
  • The Project Planning Check-In Agenda is a sample agenda for check-in meetings.
  • Depending on the structure and length of your check-in meetings, you may not have time to discuss each of these guided questions. Prioritize the sticky points that are causing the most confusion or slowing progress.
  • 7.
    What questions are we hearing?
  • 8.
    Which questions can we answer easily? Which questions are more challenging?
  • 9.
    What concerns are we hearing?
  • 10.
    Which concerns can we address easily? Which concerns are more challenging?
  • 11.
    What quick fixes can we make now to clarify or refine our plans? When and how will we communicate these small changes?
  • 12.
    Which issues should we save for our next quarterly stepback when we have more data and time to discuss?
  • 13.
    When and how will we meet for our next check-in? Who should attend?
  • 14.
    What do we want to observe and listen for before our next check-in?
  • 15.
    What is the next set of work coming up? Do we have everything we need to do this work well?
  • Be sure to document any quick fixes you make. You can add a new section to your Implementation Plan to keep track of any changes you make to your original plan.
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Workbook

This workbook is designed to help a school or system leadership team work through the implementation process together. Assemble your team, print or download the workbook, find your starting point, and dig in together.

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