Welcome to the November/mid-December newsletter from the Wing Institute at Morningside Academy.  The next newsletter will come out at the end of January and will include late December and January content.  In this issue, you will find a discussion of the Stages of Implementation and reviews of 4 research articles.  We hope you have a relaxing winter break and a wonderful holiday season.

Wing Institute Commentary

Implementation is often characterized as a single event; however, a thoughtful analysis by Fixsen, Blasé, and Van Dyke (2019) makes a strong case for conceptualizing it as a complex process that includes several stages.  The figure below describes the stages of implementation. 



Each of the stages consists of activities that must be addressed to improve the quality of implementation.  Note that it requires two to four years to achieve full implementation.  Also, notice that sustainability is a focus throughout all of the stages. Without planning for sustainability from the beginning of implementation planning, it is less likely that a program will sustain.  The discussion below is a brief description of the functions of each of the stages.
 
Exploration: The primary activity of the Exploration stage is to identify programs and interventions that can solve an identified problem.  Identifying an intervention that is a solution to the problem involves identifying programs that are a good fit.  Considerations of the goodness of fit or contextual fit are the cost of the program, ease of implementation, the time required to implement, level of training necessary to implement effectively, compatibility with the culture of the setting, and resources needed to implement the program.  The outcome of the exploration stage is the adoption of a program or intervention.
 
Installation: Once a program has been adopted, steps must be taken to prepare the system for implementing it.  Acquiring the necessary resources and materials, training staff to implement, and making organizational changes to support implementation are all part of Installation.  If staff are not fully trained to implement the new program before implementation, the impact of the intervention will be less than hoped.  Similarly, if organizational structures such as policies are not aligned with the new program, the intervention will never be fully integrated.
 
Initial Implementation: Rather than rolling a new intervention out system-wide, it is usually desirable to pilot the program on a small scale to resolve implementations issues.  This can be done more efficiently on a small scale than at the scale of an entire system.  The initial implementation is an iterative process requiring several cycles before implementation is working well.
 
Full Implementation: Full implementation is realized when a program is implemented across the entire system.  Monitoring full implementation is necessary to assure that the intervention is implemented with fidelity.  It is ubiquitous that implementation fidelity diminishes over time resulting in less benefit than expected.
 
The figure above illustrates that it is not a linear process moving from one stage to another but rather a bi-directional process.  When data indicate that the system is not working efficiently, it is necessary to return to a previous stage.  For example, circumstances and external policies sometimes change, requiring a system to adapt to the changes to sustain the intervention and achieve its benefits.
 
References
 
Fixsen, D. L., Blase, K., & Van Dyke, M. K. (2019). Implementation practice & science. Active Implementation Research Network.
 

News

One of the most important decisions educators make is what reading curriculum to adopt.  The consequences of that decision can have profound implications for students.  Adopting a curriculum not based on the science of reading is likely to produce a generation of poor readers.  Read More.
 
References
 
Kurtz, H., Lloyd, S., Harwin, A., Chen, V., & Furuya, Y. (2020). Early Reading Instruction: Results of a National Survey. Editorial Projects in Education.

Classroom teachers consistently report classroom management as a significant area of concern.  This is especially true for early career teachers and teachers often report it is one of the most common reasons for leaving the profession.  Highly rigorous, practical, and effective pre-service and professional development training approaches are necessary to address classroom behavior challenges.  Read more.
 
Article citation: Hirsch, S. E., Randall, K., Bradshaw, C., & Lloyd, J. W. (2021). Professional Learning and Development in Classroom Management for Novice Teachers: A Systematic Review. Education and Treatment of Children, 44(4), 291-307.
 
 
References
 
Stevenson, N. A., VanLone, J., & Barber, B. R. (2020). A commentary on the misalignment of teacher education and the need for classroom behavior management skills. Education and Treatment of Children, 43(4), 393-404.
 
Stokes, T. F., & Baer, D. M. (1977). An implicit technology of generalization 1. Journal of applied behavior analysis, 10(2), 349-367.

School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is one of the most widely adopted frameworks for supporting prosocial behavior in schools; however, it is not uncommon for schools to abandon it before fully implementing it.  A recent review by Fox and colleagues (2021) sought to understand the facilitators and barriers to implementing SWPBIS.  Read more.
 
Citation: 
Fox, R. A., Leif, E. S., Moore, D. W., Furlonger, B., Anderson, A., & Sharma, U. (2021). A Systematic Review of the Facilitators and Barriers to the Sustained Implementation of School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. Education and Treatment of Children, 1-22.

At the core of any multi-tiered system of support (MTSS; e.g., School-wide positive behavior intervention or Response to Intervention) is the requirement Tier 1 or universal intervention is implemented with adequate fidelity to benefit most students.  If Tier 1 interventions are not implemented with fidelity, too many students will receive more intensive Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions.  Read more.
 
Citation for Article:
 
Buckman, M. M., Lane, K. L., Common, E. A., Royer, D. J., Oakes, W. P., Allen, G. E., ... & Brunsting, N. C. (2021). Treatment Integrity of Primary (Tier 1) Prevention Efforts in Tiered Systems: Mapping the Literature. Education and Treatment of Children, 44(3), 145-168.

Welcome to the October Newsletter from the Wing Institute.  This will be the final Newsletter from the Wing Institute as it is currently established.  Randy Keyworth and Jack States, the two Executive Directors, are retiring after very long and successful careers in education.  Their retirement is well-deserved and we wish them all the best. 

The Wing Institute will continue operating in partnership with Morningside Academy in Seattle, Washington.  For over 40 years, Dr. Kent Johnson and his team have developed and provided exemplary educational practices to students and educators, and have formed dynamic partnerships with a myriad of school districts and agencies across the United States and Canada.  They also conduct research, and develop best practice curriculum and instructional practices.  For more information about Morningside Academy please visit their website, https://morningsideacademy.org/.  

On a personal note, I (Ronnie Detrich) have worked with Randy and Jack for well over three decades, and that work has been some of the most satisfying work of my career.  It has been an absolute pleasure to have these gentlemen as my colleagues.  I want to wish them the very best in their well-deserved retirement.  

I could not be happier to continue their legacy in the new partnership with Morningside Academy.  As a Senior Fellow, I will be working in the role of editor for the Wing Institute at Morningside Newsletter, and look forward to bringing useful information to the website (www.winginstitute.org).

In this edition of the newsletter you will find continuing discussion of usable innovations, four research article commentaries, one original paper from Kendra Guinness on Professional Judgment, and news about the upcoming Wing Institute graduate student research grant.

Welcome from Morningside

Welcome to the Wing Institute at Morningside Academy! We're honored and excited to continue the mission of the Wing Institute. The work that Jack States and Randy Keyworth have done is incredible, and we're extremely grateful for the opportunity to build upon all that they've accomplished. We're also very excited that Ronnie Detrich will continue as editor of the Wing Institute's newsletter. 

For those new to us, Morningside has two programs. The first is Morningside Academy, a nonprofit elementary and middle school founded in 1980 for children and youth who have not previously reached their potential. Many of our students have learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, or ADD/ADHD; all have average to well above average intelligence. Morningside is not a school for children with significant emotional problems, behavioral problems, or developmental delays. Morningside helps our students catch up and get ahead. 

The second program is Morningside Teachers’ Academy, a teacher training and in-classroom coaching service. The primary purpose is to disseminate the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction, an amalgam of evidence-based best practices in the areas of instruction, practice, and real-world application of curriculum objectives. Since 1991, Morningside Teachers' Academy has worked with  over 140 schools and agencies across North America and Europe. 

We also disseminate educational best-practices through our annual Morningside Summer Institute. Every summer, dozens of teachers, behavior analysts, psychologists, and other education professionals join us for an intensive study of MMGI. Attendees spend afternoons learning about educational best practices, then put those into action during morning practicum in our summer school classrooms. 

To better help produce and disseminate evidence-based curriculum, our small team of instructional designers publish instructional and fluency-based programs in reading, writing, and math; as well as instructional design and behavioral education titles, through Morningside Press.

Thank you for your interest in evidence-based best practices in education. We look forward to hearing from you and continuing on the important tradition of the Wing Institute. 

Onward and upward,

Dr. Joanne Robbins
Principal and Associate Director

Wing Institute Commentary

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