At the start of every school year, leaders count on the programs or initiatives planned for and over the summer taking hold and building momentum as the academic year gets underway. Much of the time, they do. When an implementation doesn’t gain traction, it’s rarely about the program itself, and it’s rarely about teacher commitment. More often, a few key supports simply weren’t fully in place.
District and school leaders often see this firsthand. As Stacy Weldon, District Literacy Coordinator and ELA Supervisor in Allen Parish School District in Louisiana, reflects on her district’s early days of SPIRE implementation, “You can’t just purchase a product and expect it to do the work. I was very much boots-on-the-ground, evaluating what we were doing and working alongside teachers.” As many leaders know, successful implementation depends not only on selecting the right solution, but also on putting the structures, training, and support systems in place to help educators use it effectively.
Implementation science refers to the early stage of program launch and teacher adoption as the Installation, or “Getting Started,” phase (Fixsen, 2025; Carlson, 2025). This phase is about getting everything in place so teachers can begin using the program with confidence. The guiding question is straightforward: Are we set up to launch well, and is the program getting off the ground?
The Getting Started phase deserves special attention because implementation challenges are much easier to fix in September than after a disappointing mid-year review. A scheduling conflict, missing coaching support, or unclear data routines can typically be corrected more quickly at the beginning of the year. If issues are left unaddressed, they can compound over time and make it much harder to regain momentum later in the school year.
What does a strong implementation start actually look like?
Key Elements of a Strong Implementation Start
Everyone understands the plan
District leaders, building leaders, and teachers all understand expectations regarding program use.
Logistics are verified
Adequate time for expected use has been set aside in the master schedule. If technology is being used, students and teachers are rostered and devices are functioning.
Training and coaching structures are in place
Teachers and leaders have been trained before program launch, and a coaching plan is in place to support teachers once the program is in use.
Data points are named and shared
There is clarity around the data points that will be monitored and when leaders and teachers will engage in data review.
Teams can generally consider the Getting Started phase complete when at least 75% of teachers have been trained and are using the program with some consistency. At that point, the work shifts from launching the program to supporting implementation quality and continuous improvement during the next phase: Initial Implementation.
A question for your team: If we looked only at our training and usage data today, would we be on track to hit the 75% benchmark by our target date? If not, what barriers need to be addressed now?
Getting Started Checklist
Fortunately, most implementation challenges at the Getting Started stage are visible and fixable. By monitoring key indicators at this early stage, teams can identify issues and make adjustments before they affect implementation quality and student outcomes.
Use this simple checklist for a strong implementation start:
- ☐ Implementation plan and usage expectations are understood at the district, school, and classroom levels
- ☐ Scheduling, rostering, and technology readiness are confirmed
- ☐ Training and coaching structures are in place
- ☐ Percentage of teachers trained is monitored
- ☐ Percentage of teachers using the program consistently is monitored
For the full four-phase roadmap, download our implementation science guide for leaders: Driving Literacy Outcomes Through Effective Implementation
