Strategic Choices That Drive Implementation Success

Strong implementation requires the right priorities, support, and a willingness to build on what you already have. Here's what that looks like in practice, drawn from districts doing it well. This is the final post in a four-part series on what effective implementation support looks like. New to the series? Start with our first post.

You got into this work because student outcomes matter to you, not just test scores, but whether students are learning, growing, and being challenged.

And you’ve made the bet that high-quality curriculum, implemented with integrity, is one of the most powerful ways to give them that.  

You don’t need perfect conditions to get there, just the right focus, support, and the willingness to maximize what you already have.

Here’s what we’ve learned from the districts that do it well.

Intention Is a Superpower

The districts that build the most momentum are moving with the right intention.

When everything feels important—pacing, coaching, alignment, feedback, data—it can feel like a lot to address at once. It’s better to tackle one thing well rather than five things loosely.

“We prioritize one or two enabling conditions—the foundational factors that allow strong curriculum to actually take root—and test whether our ideas are actually working before we go wider,” says Great Minds® Success Lead Jeniqua Moran.

Do What Works

Some districts can send a full team of leaders and teachers to professional learning sessions; others can just send one—both can work.

 Success Lead Mandy Polen recommends building the capacity of whomever the district can send and staying close as those staff members bring what they gained back to their colleagues.

“Learning is more authentic when it comes from their own team members,” says Moran. “They’re putting their stamp on it, internalizing the content, because they know they have to turn it back to their teams. It is a kind of double capacity building.”

Connection Is a Resource  

When a White Plains, New York, district leader told Polen she wanted more people with whom to discuss implementation, Polen helped build a professional learning network—a group of districts across the region using the same curriculum, meeting regularly to work through the challenges together.

A recent GAO report on teacher professional development found that 67% of teachers said collaborative learning with other teachers improved their practice more than any other form of support.  

Free Resources You Might Not Know About

A tool that came up consistently when our team talked about what’s available to support implementation was the Great Minds Theory of Action White Paper.

The white paper lays out the enabling conditions that research shows are required for high-quality instructional materials to deliver on their promise. Whether you’re a current partner or just beginning to think through what strong implementation requires, it’s a useful place to start.  

One Last Thing

Start with one goal, build toward the next, and find the people inside your system who are ready to own this work. When you need support, we’re here.

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