De-Implementation by DeWitt Peter M.;

Author:DeWitt, Peter M.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Corwin Press
Published: 2022-05-06T08:36:14.325060+00:00

It’s early in this chapter, but I would like you to engage in a Clutter Check. Just as with the opening quotation, there are times when we believe we have exhausted all efforts only to find that within some of our favorite activities there is space to reduce or replace, because those activities, as much as we may like them, are not impactful in their present state.

Case in Point

A Look in the Mirror

A few years ago, I was working with a principal in Canada who was very frustrated by the number of initiatives their school division was focusing on. The division lacked direction, and it was something the principal desperately wanted to work on. They often spoke about how annoying it was that the division was forcing principals to focus on all these different initiatives at the same time yet gathering little evidence to see if they were working.

Interestingly, when it was their turn to lead meetings, each meeting focused on a different instructional strategy. In October it was reciprocal teaching, in November the jigsaw method, and in December questioning techniques. The following January, when I sat down to work with the principal, they once again began complaining about division initiatives. I asked questions about the principal’s own meetings, and they proudly spoke to the different strategies they were focused on. When I followed up with a question about evidence of impact, the principal could not provide any.

The principal realized they were doing the same thing to their teachers that they thought the division was doing to them. The only difference was that the principal felt they had control over the initiatives and genuinely believed they were helping the teachers. I mentioned that the directors at the division level probably felt the same.

Instead of focusing on a new instructional strategy at each meeting, we discussed how the principal could flip their meetings and send out a short article highlighting a strategy, then at the faculty meeting discuss the pros and cons of using it or model it and let the teachers practice in the moment. Furthermore, I suggested they could discuss the success criteria of the strategy so all staff would have a common understanding of what success looks like, then give teachers the next month to try the strategy in their classroom and bring back evidence of its effectiveness.

Instead of hammering teachers with a new strategy every month, the principal slowed down the process by focusing on one strategy over a two-month period. This allowed them to deepen their learning as a staff and lessen the likelihood of initiative fatigue.

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