Some Emerging Characteristics of Sustainable Practices

Ronnie Detrich

Randy Keyworth

Jack States

Wing Institute

Nature of the Problem

• In education innovations come and go in 18-48 months (Latham, 1988).

• Alderman & Taylor (2003) Optimally, sustainability should be a focus from the day a project is implemented. With most projects, the pressure of just becoming operational often postpones such a focus until well into the 2nd year.

Why Such a Short Life Span?

• High EffortInnovation more difficult than expected.Causes too much change.Takes too much time.

Why Such a Short Life Span?

• Poor system designSupporters leave.Personnel lack training.External funds run out. Inadequate supervision.No accountability.No consequences for early termination.

Even Well Tested Programs Often Fail to Sustain

• Elliott & Mihalic (2004) review Blueprint Model Programs (violence prevention and drug prevention programs) replication in community settings.Programs reviewed across 5 dimensions

Site selection Training Technical assistance Fidelity Sustainability.

Even Well Tested Programs Often Fail to Sustain

• Critical elements in site readinessWell connected local championStrong administrative supportFormal organizational commitmentsFormal organizational staffing stabilityUp front commitment of necessary resourcesProgram credibility within the communityProgram sustained by the existing operational budget.

Even Well Tested Programs Often Fail to Sustain

• Critical elements of trainingAdhere to requirements for training, skills, and

education.Hire all staff before scheduling training.Encourage administrators to attend training.Plan and budget for staff turnover. Implement program immediately after training.

Even Well Tested Programs Often Fail to Sustain

• Critical elements of Technical AssistanceProactive plan for technical assistance.

• Critical elements of FidelityMonitor fidelity

• Critical elements of SustainabilityFunction of how well other dimensions are

implemented.

Why Such a Short Life Span?

• Those responsible for developing effective interventions do not necessarily have the skills to effect large systems change.Systems change is different level of intervention.

Adults are the target of change rather than student behavior.

Emerging Features of Sustainable Programs

• Maintain over time.• Maintain across generations of practitioners.• Operate within existing financial and staffing

resources.

Cultural Analysis and Sustainability

• Cultural Analysis may contribute to understanding.Baum (2000): culture consists of behavior and…

cultural change constitutes an evolutionary process.Glenn (2003) if novel behavior is to make a difference

either its consequences must differ from those of previously learned behavior, or it must produce the previous consequences more expeditiously.

Cultural Analysis and Sustainability

• Diffusion of Innovations (Rogers, 2003)Diffusion is a kind of social change, defined as the

process by which alteration occurs in the structure and function of a social system. When new ideas are invented, diffused, and adopted or rejected, leading to certain consequences, social change occurs.

Diffusion of innovation is a social process, even more than a technical matter.

The adoption rate of innovation is a function of its compatibility with the values beliefs, and past experiences of the individuals in the social system.

Cultural Analysis and Sustainability

• Harris (1979): practices are adopted and maintained to the extent that they have favorable, fundamental outcomes at a lower cost than alternative practices.Fundamental outcomes are subsistence and survival.

Important Funding Outcomes for Cultural Institutions

• Schools: Average Daily Attendance.• Schools: Unit cost for a classroom.• Special Education: # of students identified

Special Education services are often specified as # minutes per session or # sessions per week.

• Mental health services: # of clients seen/time.• These all represent process measures rather than

outcome measures.

Implications of Current Measures

• If key outcome is survival of cultural practice then innovations in service must accomplish these outcomes at a much lower cost than current practice.

• Nothing in the current unit of analysis specifies effectiveness as critical dimension of the practice.

Implications of Current Measures

• Current accountability measures of NCLB may reflect a change in emphasis.Problem is that NCLB specifies outcomes but does not

specify behaviors to accomplish outcome. Consequence may be that test scores improve but student

learning does not.Multiple instances of cheating reported Many schools spend great deal of time “teaching to the test.”

• Remains to be seen if these accountability measures result in more effective practices that sustain.

How Can We Increase Sustainability of Practices?

• When developing innovative practices demonstrate how they address basic funding outcomes for schools.

• Monitor performance outcomes.Even though not directly tied to fundamental outcomes,

the larger culture has expectations that schools will educate students in a safe environment.

• Find champions who are part of the system.Champion should control important reinforcers for others

within the system.Champion needs to plan on “sticking around.”

How Can We Increase Sustainability of Practices?

• Pro-active technical assistance.Help solve the real problems of implementation.

• Monitor integrity of implementation.Without monitoring, the system likely to drift back to

previous practices.

• Anticipate 3-5 years before system is fully operational.Emphasizes the need to plan for multigenerational support.

• Use external funding and support with extreme caution.

References

Alderman, H. S. & Taylor, L. (2003). On sustainability of project innovations as systemic change. Journal of Education and Psychological Consultation, 14 (1), 1-25.

Baum, W. M. (2000). Being concrete about culture and cultural evolution. In N. Thompson and F. Tonneau (Eds.) Perspectives in Ethology (Vol. 13, pp. 181-212). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum

Elliott, D. S. & Mihalic, S. (2004). Issues in disseminating and replicating effective prevention programs. Prevention Science, 5(1), 47-53.

Glenn, S. S. (2003). Operant contingencies and the origin of cultures. In K. A. Lattal and P. N. Chase (Eds.) Behavior Theory and Philosophy. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.

Harris, M. (1979). Cultural Materialism: The struggle for a science of culture. New York: Simon and Shuster.

Latham, G. (1988). The birth and death cycles of educational innovations. Principal, 68(1), p41 -43.

Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of Innovations (5th Edition). New York: Free Press.