Implementation

**Professional development must be IMPLEMENTED if it is to have any affect on student achievement.** We spend a great deal of time providing professional development, but typically very little attention on actual implementation. Dr. Doug Reeves in his presentation on **Closing the Implementation Gap** describes the Myth of Linearity. The more teachers that actively implement the innovation results in increased student achievement as shown in the graph below.

**Dr. Reeves goes on to state that the research does not support this correlation.** In fact, he goes to say that until 90% of all teachers are actively engaged in implementation of the innovation, student achievement is minimally affected. See the graph below. 
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According to this research, a CRITICAL MASS of teachers must be actively engaged in implementation of the professional development initiative to create the focus, drive and accountability to ensure efforts had the desired affect on student performance.

Resources: **
 * **Closing the Implementation Gap** by Doug Reeves is an excellent summary on the important of implementation. DVD series provided to all participating district teams. [[file:Implementation Gap.pdf]]
 * **The 333 Story** from Chicken Soup from the Soul is an inspirational story about overcoming insurmountable odds to reach high expectations. The story can be found at[| http://www.inspirationalstories.com/9/948.html]
 * [[file:joyce and showers.pdf]]