Evidence-based practices provide schools with knowledge of what’s most likely to work to improve outcomes for their students. But even the most well-defined practices can fail to have impact if implementation isn’t deliberate. Just like evidence-based practices, effective implementation draws on research and provides schools with guidance on how to integrate these practices into their teaching as part of what they ‘do’ at their school.
This explainer is the first in a series of 5 on implementing evidence-based practices in schools. This includes outlining the 4 key components of a deliberate and structured approach to implementation:
- using a staged approach
- addressing enablers and barriers
- using key implementation strategies
- monitoring implementation outcomes.
School leaders can use these explainers to engage with the key research and ideas that underpin effective implementation.
The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) is working with schools on the Learning Partner project to learn more about implementation in different contexts. Our discussion paper, Insights into Implementation, shares some of our insights from this project.