S4 Ep5 - The Key to Successfully Implementing a New Program in Your School

Subscribe to the Podcast

Welcome to today's episode of the Structured Literacy Podcast, recorded on the lands of the Palawa people of Tasmania. I'm recording this in September 2024 and it's the time of year in Australia when schools begin to turn their eye to making decisions about instruction for the next school year.

To support those efforts, today we're diving into a crucial topic for school leaders: how to successfully implement a new teaching program in your school.

Whether you're introducing a new literacy approach or a wellbeing initiative, the principles of strong implementation remain the same. So let's get started on mapping out your road to success. Before we jump into the nuts and bolts of implementation, let's talk about why careful planning is so critical.

Implementing a new teaching program isn't just about buying materials and scheduling training. It's about creating lasting change in your school's instructional practices and ultimately improving student outcomes. Without intentional planning, even the best programs can fail to deliver results. Teachers may feel overwhelmed, revert to old practices or implement the program inconsistently. Cherry picking is a common practice. This leads to frustration, wasted resources and, most importantly, missed opportunities to help our students.

On the flip side, when implementation is carefully planned and executed, it can transform your school. Teachers feel supported and confident, students engage more deeply with their learning and you see real, measurable improvements in academic outcomes.

Your Teams' Journey

Now let's talk about the journey your team will go through as they learn and implement a new program or approach. At the start, your team may be excited about the new program, but they lack experience. They're enthusiastic, but they don't yet know what they don't know. As a leader, your role is to provide clear direction and support. You'll need to show them exactly what to do and tell them exactly how to do it.

As your team starts to implement the program, they may hit some bumps in the road, and when I say may, I mean will. They've gained some knowledge and skills, but not enough to work independently or know how to solve problems when they arise. This is when you might start to see resistance or hear comments like "this isn't working for my students".

Your leadership here is crucial. Provide lots of support and encouragement, but continue to give clear direction. Allow your team to have a voice in decisions, certainly, but remember they're not yet equipped to make major choices about implementation. In time, your team will have developed moderate-to-high skill levels, but their commitment may vary due to self-doubt. This is normal and is not an indicator that they're not committed. They might be inconsistent in their practice when doubts arise, and that happens to all of us, this is what you'll be seeing when you walk past someone's classroom one day and they're doing a bang-up job with your new program, and then you walk past the next day and you find that they're handing out Blackline Masters from a website.

Your role shifts here. You need to support and encourage, but also start involving them in more decision making. Doubt arises because they don't have enough experience to know that they can work their way through problems. Remind them of their successes and show evidence of their progress.

Finally, they'll reach a stage where they have high levels of skill and are highly committed. They're performing consistently and can even support others. At this point, your role is to give them space to work independently, while still being available for support and guidance. Remember, these stages aren't linear, your team members may move back and forth between them, especially when facing new challenges or changes in their teaching environment. So I might be terrific at teaching writing in Year Five, but I'm going to be teaching Year Two next year. I need a different skill set and I need more experience and support, I can't just jump in and know how to do everything.

New + Old?

One of the important points that we must remember is that we can't just layer in new programs and approaches with our old programs and approaches. It's common to want to mesh things together. When we do that, we think we're not upsetting anyone by telling them that they have to give something up and we get to feel good about implementing the new thing. That's a win-win, right? Well, I'm afraid it's usually not.

Merging two programs or trying to bring something new while hanging on to the old just makes a mess. One of the most common reasons that school leaders don't want to let go of things is that they've paid money for it and they're accountable for the spend. This is called a sunken cost fallacy. The sunken cost fallacy happens when we stick to something because we've invested in it, even if that thing doesn't serve us.

The reason that teachers don't like giving things up is because their jobs are cognitively complex. There are times when our teams are just change-weary. They're not uncommitted, they're not resistant to learning new things, they're just tired. I'm not saying that you should throw everything out when something new comes along. It's a shame to lose strength that you've developed over time just because you have something new in the space. We don't want to throw that baby out with the bathwater, but the thing about that is that we have to know which bits are the baby and which bits are the bathwater and make conscious decisions that lead us to simplicity and therefore success.

The next thing I'd like to discuss is a plan for implementation overall. Let's have a brief look at a process that I highly recommend.

One

Phase one of this process is about preparation, so five weeks to a term before instruction begins is about setting the stage for success. You'll need to prepare resources, run some training or have teachers trained in some way, and probably conduct some kind of foundational diagnostic assessment. This is also the time when it's important for you to establish your follow-up schedule. After all, if you don't schedule follow-up, it won't happen, and we know that we simply cannot plop a program into classrooms, give teachers some training and think that's the end of the job. It's not. Don't rush this preparation phase. It's tempting to even jump straight into instruction and not do the prep at all, but thorough preparation pays off in the long run.

Two

The second phase of implementation is about establishing strong instruction and can last for four to six weeks. This is where teachers begin using resources and building some fluency with the routines they contain. This is a critical phase where you need to ensure that everyone is rowing in the same direction, so it's important to schedule weekly check-ins with your team during this four to six week sprint. In each of these check-in meetings, have teachers share their wins, share their challenges and ask loads of questions. Review lesson videos together, if you have them, and discuss how the teacher's instruction aligns with the demonstrated techniques you're watching together. This helps everybody to reflect on what they're doing in the classroom and build consistency.

Three

The third phase is all about consolidating for success and lasts for the remainder of your first 12 months of instruction. Once you've established strong instruction, the focus shifts to building automaticity and learning to respond to student needs within your chosen program or approach. This phase includes a check-in after about a term of implementation, the purpose of which is to start to develop an instructional agreement with your team. Yes, you, as the leader, may know what you want things to look like, but it's so important to bring the team along for the journey so that everybody has a shared vision of what future success looks like. Bringing the team on board with the development of this agreement means that development and change is done with people, not to them.

Adults rarely respond well when you hand them a document and say this is all that you will do. Do not deviate. I am going to give you precise instruction forevermore.

After the second term of instruction, check in again, and the point of that check-in is to review and finalise the instructional agreement. Now you will have, in that intervening time, shared a draft with teams, gotten feedback, made changes based on that feedback, while keeping the big picture vision in mind, of course, but teams will have had an opportunity to have voice in the process. It's, then, a good idea to also schedule regular staff meeting time that focuses on your chosen method of instruction. This is about rehearsal and practice of key routines. It's important for keeping everyone on the same page and helping people continue to develop skills. You'll also, if you have time and capacity within your school, and if you're in a little school this is even harder to do than it is in a big school, but organise some classroom observation and walkthroughs. That helps you know what's happening.

If, two months or two terms after the beginning of instruction, you can't actually tell anyone what you've seen happening or what's going on in classrooms, there's a good chance that inconsistency has already started to creep in. After a year of instruction, it's time for your one-year check-in. This is an opportunity for you to review your instructional agreement, reflect on the year that you've had, look at your results, think about how you're going to improve in the future and plan for the next year.

The need for regular check-ins and coaching is very real, and you might be thinking, oh, Jocelyn, that's a lot of meetings and you're right, but regular check-ins and coaching are absolutely crucial for successful implementation. There is research to show us that if we want teachers' new learning to transfer into the classroom in a robust way to lead to student outcomes, that coaching is the critical factor. You can give people all the training you like, but if you want the impact of that to be great on kids, you need to help them along the way.

The Purpose of Check-ins

Here's why: the first reason for all of this checking-in is consistency. Regular check-ins ensure that all teachers are implementing the program or approach consistently and, ideally with the degree of fidelity to the program that you have decided you want. This is key for student success, especially if students move between classes or grade levels. What happens in Mrs Jones' room needs to be the same as what happens in Mrs Smith's room. That helps me, as a student, be safe. It also helps teachers be able to problem solve, which is the second reason that all of this is really useful.

These check-ins provide a forum for teachers to share challenges and collaboratively find solutions to those challenges. In any team there's a wealth of wisdom and experience and you can draw on that to help solve problems. But remember, people need to be skilled and knowledgeable about explicit teaching and explicit instruction to really be able to advise well in that space.

The next reason that all these check-ins are helpful is motivation. That enables you to share successes together and helps maintain enthusiasm and commitment to what you're doing.

Next we have skill development. Remember I said that those meetings were all about practice and rehearsal? Well, reviewing and practicing instructional techniques helps teachers continually refine their skills.

We also have accountability. It is necessary. Regular check-ins encourage teachers to stay on track with implementation. People will, on occasion, go their own way and try to go rogue, so we need to remember to communicate about what is expected. It's not about running a dictatorship or being authoritarian. It's about driving the bus of instruction in your school. And remember these check-ins don't have to be long, 15 to 20 minutes of a one-hour staff meeting is great, and if you schedule this regularly, you're going to be providing spaced practice that your teachers need.

Pitfalls

Now, as well as all of the wonderful things about implementing something new, there are some pitfalls that we can look out for to be able to head things off at the pass if they might go wrong. So let's talk about some of those common pitfalls we might encounter and maybe how to manage them.

The first thing, and we've all experienced it, is resistance from team members. This often stems from fear or uncertainty rather than an unwillingness to change or grow. It's important to distinguish in a person's behavior between can't and won't. If this is can't and I'm scared and it's new, then you're going to provide redirection, lots of expectations, loads of support and opportunity for the teacher to voice their concern and be able to feel safe in the new learning.

If it's a flat won't, it's a I refuse to get on board with this, I am not interested, I will nod in the meeting and then go back to my classroom and intentionally not do or even attempt what you have laid out for me, that's a performance issue and needs to be addressed very quickly.

There is nothing so demotivating to a teacher who is busting themselves to learn and do well than watching the teacher in the classroom next to them or across the hall just say nope, I'm not going to do that and nothing happens. So why would I bust myself in all of this if other people around me don't bother and there's no consequence or no follow-up that happens. So we need to jump on people who are just flatly refusing. But remember, sometimes won't is actually can't in disguise. So this is where relationships come in, we have to know our team and be there with them. They have to know that we've got their back.

The next thing that can go wrong is time constraints, both for teachers and leaders. Now, when teachers get busy or they don't understand what they're doing, they start to cherry pick parts of the program. This waters down the entire effect and leads to lowered outcomes, which makes it hard for people to stay the course. Combat the time constraint by helping teachers prioritise and schedule effectively. Also, be really clear about where implementing this new thing, here's what is going. So we want to help our teachers cut the apron strings of old things they feel comfortable with if they're no longer serving, but also give them permission to let go of something, we can't just keep piling on.

Inconsistent implementation is a real risk. So this is where your instructional agreement comes in, combined with regular observations and all of those things I mentioned. You want to create consistency across classrooms. The move to the new approach you're implementing is not optional, but how you get there might be. So it's great to be collaborative, and it's not just great, but it's a must.

But in the end, the leader has to lead and the Principal's involvement and support is a must.

Get them to those check-in meetings where you're practicing routines.

Get them to have a go with everyone else.

Get them to spend time observing.

They have to know what good performance looks like and ideally they're the one driving the bus, even if they're not doing the day-to-day stuff.

One of the other pitfalls is losing focus over time. Schools are busy places with loads of priorities that can take over as a year progresses. So keep the program on the agenda of regular meetings to maintain that focus.

Finally, we've got student behaviour challenges. So changing something in our school can lead to some temporary behaviour issues. However, if you do all of these things that I've recommended, it will help teachers feel fluent and confident in your new approach much more quickly, which means that they will have the with-it-ness they need to be able to be there with their kids and keep everything on track. The more fluent teachers become with lesson structures, the better they are able to help keep students on the path to learning, and this decreases the instances of negative behaviours, because students can be off track or they can be on track. Now, both of those things are hard.

You choose which hard you want.

Finally, plan for the next year. I know I said the other thing was finally, but this one is the finally. Don't wait until the end of the year to plan for next year. Start thinking about onboarding new staff and refreshing resources right at the start of term four, not in the last two weeks of the school year. Also, think about who you're going to pair new staff with. Don't simply pair a new staff member with a teaching partner because they teach the same grade if the teaching partner is not on the bus. You want your new staff to be mentored by people who are your biggest champions, the ones who shout from the rooftops because they're really excited about what's happening. So that's a key part of planning.

Implementing a new teaching program is a journey, and it's one that takes investment of time, often investment of money and effort. There are no quick, easy solutions to do this well. So we need to be really mindful. We can't have a massive focus on maths and a massive focus on literacy and a massive focus on implementing a new science curriculum. We have to have one main new focus that can be called our big rock, and the other things are little rocks, but you can't have three big rocks in the space, it is just not possible, you will overwhelm yourself and overwhelm your staff. So think carefully about how you are planning for a new approach, what ongoing support is going to look like and what does it mean in your school to have a continuous commitment to improvement, because this journey, my friends, is never done.

We are always improving.

With the right roadmap and a strong implementation plan, you can lead your team to success.

If your school has adopted Spelling Success in Action as your upper primary spelling program or is thinking of doing so for 2025, you have access to not only a teacher's course with everything teachers need, but also a leader's course to support your implementation. In this course and the workbook that comes with it, there are infographics and details of the roadmap to implementation to support you on your journey. You also have access to meeting agendas, teacher reflection templates and guidance on things like observation and ways to coach and support your team. And this is a course, it's not just a workbook you have to work through. It's me unpacking things and helping you with the journey.

Remember, the goal isn't perfect implementation from Day One. There is no perfection, we have to let go of that.

But we can create a culture of growth where our teams feel supported to try new things, learn from challenges and continuously refine their practice.

By following this roadmap I've shared with you today, and adapting it to your school's unique needs, you'll be well on your way to transforming teaching and learning in your school. Nobody is starting this work from zero. Every school has structures of support and professional learning and planning in place that you can piggyback off to make this work.

Whatever your school has planned for the coming year, I wish you and your team all the best. Happy teaching, bye.

Looking for a way to give your teachers full guidance while helping them build their skills? Download a brochure and sample unit here.