What Makes Evidence-Based Practices “Stick”? Assessing Contextual Factors in BEST in CLASS

In this blog post, we highlight promising practices for implementing evidence-based practices, including coaching support for teachers. We encourage you to read our other blogs related to effective coaching, including the use of videos to support teaching practices, and teachers’ perspectives and coaches’ perspectives of the BEST in CLASS model.

Implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) to support students’ positive behavior and positive learning environments requires more than the “train-and-hope strategy.” We have to do more than offer teachers training without additional support to help them implement and sustain those practices.

In our study of BEST in CLASS, an EBP that supports teachers’ delivery of key practices to support young children with behavioral challenges, we unearthed many factors that influence how preschool teachers and coaches implement the program. In a series of focus groups, BEST in CLASS coaches revealed what could determine the success or failure of BEST in CLASS in real-world environments.

What are critical contextual factors that can make or break your implementation success?

Based on implementation science models (for example, Feldstein & Glasgow, 2008; Fort et al., 2023), we categorized findings into these major contextual issues:

• Provider perspectives about the program’s usability and relevance, impacts on teachers and students, beliefs about students’ abilities to change behaviors, and delivery complexity.
• School and teacher characteristics such as demographics, organizational policies, resource availability, working climate, teacher engagement, and competing demands.
• Implementation infrastructure including training and coaching support, staff roles and responsibilities, staff supervision, utility of program materials for fidelity monitoring and feedback, and alignment with existing professional development structures.
• External environmental contexts such as geographic characteristics, current and historical priorities, severe weather-related events, and global and regional conditions, including health, environmental, and socio-political factors (Fort et al., 2023; Woodbridge et al., 2014).

Our findings add credence to the literature which shows that there are significant challenges to increasing the use of EBPs in the real world (Fagan et al., 2019; Odom, 2009; Sutherland et al., 2015; Wackerle-Hollman et al., 2021)—even with practice-based coaching support (PBC) (Snyder et al., 2022; Snyder et al., 2015). Although PBC enhances practitioners’ use of BEST in CLASS teaching strategies and has strong evidence for its effectiveness (e.g., see Hemmeter et al., 2016; Snyder et al., 2018; Sutherland et al., 2018), we cannot ignore contextual factors that impact success.

What strategies increase the likelihood that EBPs will stick?

We offer recommendations based on our findings below.

• Nurture teacher buy-in. Before adopting an EBP, be sure it makes sense to your teachers—that it’s doable, meaningful, and fits into their daily routines. Identify champions among staff members with high levels of credibility and experience to encourage the uptake of new practices, help problem solve, and dispel misconceptions that discourage implementation.
• Reduce competing demands. Coaches and teachers need protected time and their full attention on the task; any delays or disruption of that time reduces the likelihood of success. Maintain commitments to new programs/practices and make room for necessary structures while reducing other demands and obligations wherever possible.
• Select and adapt programs to align with existing structures and practices. Assess existing programs and choose EBPs that are complimentary and designed based on similar theories of change. Adapt implementation approaches so that they match existing staffing models while maintaining key program elements.
• Strengthen the support system. Have ready-made program worksheets, materials, and logs to reduce teachers’ preparation burden and keep teachers, coaches, and administrators accountable to the program’s delivery. Build in adequate supervision, support, and problem solving sessions so colleagues can share solutions and best practices in implementation. Devote resources to building trusting and positive relationships between supervisors, coaches, and teachers.
• Plan ahead and develop contingency plans. Be prepared for the unexpected, such as leadership turnover and weather-related delays in implementation. Think through the “What if?” and be ready (with an action plan) and willing to pivot to new timelines or implementation strategies.
• Create opportunities for staff to see results as soon as possible. Ensure that teachers can see how their efforts impact students. Draw connections between their implementation of EBPs and positive student outcomes using data.

This is hard work, but you’re not alone.

SRI Education can help you understand and assess critical implementation and sustainability factors as part of a comprehensive approach to credible evaluation and action planning. We are committed to partnering with educators to improve outcomes for students by developing and implementing EBPs in real-world environments and measuring their success.

SRI Education studies programs and practices using a mixed methods approach that integrates surveys, interviews, observations, and analysis of process data to articulate a theory of change, characterize current needs, carefully document implementation, gather formative feedback, and contextualize results to support program and practice improvement and scaling. We combine our expertise in content, populations, and evaluation methods to produce actionable research-based insights that can help you yield the largest impacts from your investments.

SRI is a nonprofit research institute whose innovations have created new industries and lasting benefits to society. Contact us at education@sri.com to work with a highly experienced independent evaluation partner who shares your commitment to optimizing outcomes and reducing barriers for all students.

References

Topics: Educator professional development and support Researcher-practitioner partnership