1. Implementation Science:
Why it’s Needed in Education and Human Services Fields
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Have you had a situation where the right strategy was selected to solve an important problem, but it failed
due to poor implementation? Unfortunately, many organizations struggle not only with choosing the right
practice for the right purpose, but with a myriad of implementation issues. These issues, if not planned for and
mitigated, will derail the implementation efforts of well-intended staff, and result in abandoning the practice.
Considerable human and financial resources were expended, and then organizational leaders are faced with
selecting a new practice and risking implementation fatigue among front line staff.
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Evidenced based practices(EBPs) are needed to achieve desired results. Sometimes organizations struggle
with making the right choice in match an EBP to the defined problem to be solved. Staff can feel pressured to
make premature decisions, and jump to conclusions about what the actual problem is and what program or
strategy would be the best match. However, the selected strategy or program often is well- matched to the need,
and the problem resides in poor implementation.
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Applied Implementation Science is a cross-disciplinary science derived from successful implementations
across human services fields. Implementation Science is a relatively new science that has resulted from the
frustrations of failed implementations of evidenced-based practices in contexts that are unique from the controlled
circumstance under which the practice was developed. The resulting science is a set of active implementation
frameworks that, when used effectively, will result in better planning and staging of the work, the use of
implementation teams to guide the process, assessing and using implementation drivers to support the work, and
using frequent assessment of the implementation process, as well as assessment of the strategy, to inform a
continuous improvement process. When executed well, implementation will not only be successful but can be
sustained over time to achieve lasting results and significant impacts.
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Implementation Science is a remedy that provides structure and process to ensure implementation of a new
practice is adequately monitored and supported so that the intended impact is achieved. Currently, there is a big
gap between the ‘what’ - evidenced based practice, and the ‘how’ - the implementation of the practice.
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Following are some of the ways Implementation Science frameworks can help organizations bridge the
implementation gap, and achieve the outcomes and impact that is needed:
• assess the area of need, and choose the right EBP to meet the need and context
• assess readiness of the organization to implement a specific practice or strategy
• develop an implementation plan and stage the work
• develop a needed implementation infrastructure for support such as a data system, and others
• foster stakeholder involvement to support implementation
• assess implementation drivers and determine ways to support the implementation effort
• use teams to implement and sustain the work
• create and use improvement cycles to enhance the implementation effort
• identify and develop implementation monitoring tools to know when adjustments are needed to support the
implementors in achieving the desired impact.
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For more information contact Ann Casey, a Ph.D. psychologist with executive level experience in urban education
and national implementation of a well-known early intervention framework. She became interested in
Implementation Science when strategies she championed were abandoned due poor execution. Her career is now
focused on Implementation Science, bringing her success with these frameworks to Education and Human
Services clients. Dr. Casey can be reached at caseya229@gmail.com.