Implementation Science and CI/ADI

As you know, I am a HUGE fan of the podcast "Sold a Story". As a result, I am a big advocate of the Science of Reading and have been thinking much about how it can be applied to the world language classroom since we are seeing low literacy skills in our students. There is so much which we can learn from the Science of Reading.

Recently, I saw the following video of a presentation about the Science of Reading and Implementation Science led by Emily Hanford of "Sold a Story" fame. I had never heard of Implementation Science - it is a relatively new science. While watching the video, I could not help but think about how Implementation Science relates to the barriers which we CI/ADI teachers encounter. Regardless of your views on the Science of Reading, the discussion of Implementation Science has much bearing on education, especially the Simple View of Outcomes (patterned after the Simple View of Reading).

The video is about 90 minutes, but I found the 45-minute presentation and then the 45 minutes of Q/A to be very informative about Implementation Science. 

One of the points which caught my attention surrounds the Simple View of Outcomes - that so often we bombard and overload attempts at change with "knowledge," as if knowledge itself is what will effect change. While knowledge in and of itself is necessary, that alone is not enough. I think that we as a CI/ADI community have been good at focusing on getting the knowledge out there, but how can we fix "systems" in stages to implement that CI/ADI knowledge? 

Here are some "barriers" which I see teachers new to CI/ADI experience. As I reflect, I do not think that we address these very well:

• How can I wean myself from the textbook? The textbook is all I know.
• What does a CI/ADI assessment look like? I do not know that looks like. I need examples.
• There are specific topics which I must cover in a semester. How do I do this?

I think so often our response to these situations is just to offer more knowledge, but folks need TANGIBLES in order to progress - what does this look like? I feel like so often are message to newcomers is "Here is the knowledge. Now, good luck on implementing it." This is definitely something on which I need to ponder further.

So what are some "low-hanging systems within our reach" which we in the CI/ADI community can address and fix, instead of just throwing knowledge at them?