"Implementation with Fidelity", I Have a Problem!

I keep hearing from some national and local educational leaders and educational program developers that if you bring a specific program to a district, it can fix student achievement. Almost always it is then followed with a caveat, "If it is implemented with fidelity". Have you heard the expression, "implementation with fidelity" in your school or district? This is a very troubling expression to me, and hopefully to all of us.

I understand that when a research-based practice is well researched, a lot is learned about how to help kids achieve. However, what happens when a program is brought to a district and for many reasons, it is not implemented with fidelity? Do we blame the implementers, teachers and school-based administrators? Or do we look to the researchers and district leaders who only offer success if the perfect format for perfect implementation is followed?

The reality of my world that I have lived in for over 38 years is that we can never have perfect implementation of any program, no matter how hard we try. Perfect implementation requires that more than sufficient professional development is provided. You and I know that we fight for every professional development second we can find, and then it isn't enough for all that we need to learn as educators. Perfect implementation requires expert modeling of the program model, but this is a high cost item. Although we have had coaches in our schools for several years, they were not experts in every area that they needed to have expertise in. Perfect implementation requires a long term commitment with measurement of success over several years, not in one year. Our grading system, at the state and federal level, preclude us from having several years to measure whether we are moving in the right direction or not. Finally, perfect implementation requires that each teacher and administrator is in agreement that this program model will be better than whatever is currently in place in our schools. I am absolutely sure that we never take the upfront time to gain buy-in from our implementors. The result is that the teachers and administrators see each new program as a passing fad that will be moving on shortly, so why put much effort into supporting or learning it now.

The root of the matter is that without the teachers and school-based administrators buying into any program or plan for a school, it is likely to be implemented with less than the required level of fidelity. I am bothered because we don't work to alter the mindset of our educators before bringing in new programs. I am further disturbed because of the way we bring in these programs, they do not lead to the promised levels of success and some kids are further damaged by the educational system.

I cannot accept "implementation with fidelity" as a statement from educational leaders. We need to find ways to work with kids, educate kids, and support kids whether we have fidelity of implementation or not. We need to all believe that our job makes a difference to our students and to our society. We cannot settle for less than our best. We cannot settle for expecting less than their best of our students. We don't need perfectly implemented programs, we will never get them, but we do need well thought out, researched based programs that are explained to our educators, and given time to succeed. If they don't succeed, we need to figure out how to tweak the program so that we can continually help more children to achieve at higher levels.

The cop out of "implementation with fidelity" allows for educational leaders, educational researchers, administrators, and teachers to have an excuse for why these new programs have not reached a level of success that was expected. I want these researchers to keep researching, we need them. I want our district leaders to keep searching for the best fit our schools, we need them to. I want teachers and school-based administrators to continue to find ways to motivate and engage our students. But I want implementation to be about more than just "fidelity". I want these programs to figure out how to work when they are offered to schools that have many challenges facing them, and need much more than to be told "implement with fidelity".

If you agree or disagree, I would love to hear your comments.