Even when innovations have rigorous evidence of impact, they often are not widely adopted by the field, or their use is not sustained. To support more successful transitions of educational research to the field, SRI researchers modified its Invent-Apply-Transition (I-A-T) framework, that has been successfully used to scale research to practice in healthcare, enterprise software, and robotics, to educational contexts based on the experiences of an Advisory Council and Expert Panel Members, all with direct experience successfully scaling educational innovations. SRI began this project by conducting a brief literature scan to identify common themes that education researchers employed in effective scale-up strategies. SRI researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with the four Advisory Council and nine Expert Panel members to gather feedback from experts in the field who have successfully scaled educational innovations on the I-A-T framework, and then used their feedback to make relevant modifications. This report introduces the I-A-T framework and how it has been modified to educational contexts. The report also describes an Embedded Entrepreneur Program model that could be used to support Institute of Education Sciences (IES) grantees to increase their probability of scaling and transitioning their innovations to the educational market by helping them analyze their needs hypotheses, product-user fit, stakeholder mapping, market differentiation, product market fit, and scaling pathway hypotheses. Our initial findings suggest that education researchers and innovators could especially benefit from attending more to three factors: (1) the feasibility/usability of the innovation (the “Convenience” component of the Performance, Reliability, Convenience, Cost [PRCC] approach), and how it would be incorporated into the operating environment of the school and district; (2) an understanding of the scope of the innovation (i.e., whether it is a product or a feature); and (3) early identification of a commercialization strategy that is aligned with the scope of the innovation. The report explains how educational researchers can benefit from following the steps outlined in the modified I-A-T framework and collaborating with entrepreneurs with demonstrated skills and dedicated time for scaling innovations. The following appendices are included: a detailed description of the I-A-T framework, a description of the Embedded Entrepreneur Pilot Program, and a literature scan.
Shari Golan
SRI Author
Using Data to Support Children and Families: The North Dakota Early Childhood Integrated Data System Strategic Plan
SRI developed this strategic plan for North Dakota to help guide the state’s partners in building community support and engagement for their early childhood integrated data system (ECIDS) and establish policies and procedures to bring together data from multiple sources. The strategic plan identifies relevant national lessons learned regarding ECIDS development and implementation in three capacity areas: organizational capacity, human capacity, and technical capacity. The plan then discusses a phased-in approach to how North Dakota state administrators can use its past work and national lessons to build the capacity needed to design and implement a functional and effective ECIDS that produces actionable information for its intended audience and users.
To develop this strategic plan, we analyzed documents, surveyed and interviewed program administrators, and developed implementation plans – specifically, a data governance plan that included a data governance charter, a data governance manual, and a stakeholder engagement plan.
This strategic plan is not a technical discovery document that outlines the technological needs or specifications for developing and maintaining an ECIDS. Rather, it focuses on North Dakota’s early childhood context – its need for an ECIDS, the landscape of early childhood programs and services available in North Dakota, the ways it could use an ECIDS, and its readiness and capacity for integrating data and how to build that capacity. It also includes recommendations for data governance and stakeholder engagement activities needed to effectively develop and implement an ECIDS.
Advancing Local Early Childhood Systems in Virginia: Next Steps for Local, Regional, and State Stakeholders
Strong local early childhood systems are key to ensuring the healthy development of young children. Over the last decade, Virginia communities have leveraged public and private sector efforts to make substantial progress in coordinating and strengthening local early childhood systems. The Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF) partnered with researchers from SRI Education (SRI) to examine the progress and challenges of early childhood systems building in Virginia with a focus on communities that are part of VECF’s Smart Beginnings network. This document summarizes the findings from that examination and provides recommendations for how VECF, state government, and local leaders can more equitably and effectively serve children and families.
Virginia Early Childhood Foundation Local Early Childhood Systems Building Strategy Map and Indicators
This document describes the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation’s (VECF) strategy map. The strategy map is intended to serve as a guide for VECF as well as its public and private partner organizations in planning, executing, and tracking progress on their efforts to build equitable and durable early childhood (EC) systems across the Commonwealth of Virginia. The strategy map also communicates VECF’s organizational goals and strategies to build and strengthen local EC systems and the indicators it will use to assess and communicate its progress to policymakers and the public.
Virginia Preschool Initiative Plus (VPI+) Final Evaluation Report
The Virginia Preschool Initiative Plus (VPI+) was designed to provide 4-year-old children from low-income families with access to high-quality prekindergarten programs. The Virginia Department of Education contracted with SRI International to evaluate the implementation and impacts of the VPI+ program. SRI researchers found that attending VPI+ had a positive impact on children’s academic and behavioral skills, with the largest impact on literacy skills. In the year between enrolling in VPI+ and beginning kindergarten, participating children developed more than 15 months of mathematics skills and more than 20 months of literacy skills within a 12-month time frame. To learn more about the implementation and impacts of the VPI+ program, please see the full report.
Pathway Schools Initiative: Fundamental evaluation summary
This report summarizes the progress made by the schools that participated in the Pathway Schools Initiative through the 2017–18 school year on a fundamental set of outcome indicators: continuity in the PreK–3 enrollment pipeline, literacy instructional practices, teaching quality, effective school leadership, and student reading achievement.
Pathway Schools Initiative developmental evaluation-learning brief 4
To support its Pathway Schools Initiative, The McKnight Foundation has engaged initiative leaders in a developmental evaluation led by SRI International and Child Trends. A developmental evaluation is a collaborative effort that begins with identification of high-priority questions of practical interest and then supports continuous improvement through data gathering and provision of rapid, relevant feedback to the initiative leaders who develop action plans based on the implications of the findings.
Pathway Schools Initiative Developmental Evaluation-Learning Brief 3 (February 2017)
To support its Pathway Schools Initiative, The McKnight Foundation has engaged initiative leaders in a developmental evaluation (DE) led by SRI International and Child Trends. A collaborative effort, DE begins with identification of high-priority questions of practical interest. It supports continuous improvement through data gathering and provision of rapid, relevant feedback to the initiative leaders who develop action plans based on the implications of the findings.
Case studies of the early implementation of Kindergarten Entry Assessments
This report presents findings from a descriptive study that examined the development and early implementation of Kindergarten Entry Assessments (KEAs) in 12 districts across four Race To the Top-Early Learning Challenge grantee states (Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington) in the 2014-15 school year. The study consisted of document reviews, telephone interviews with state agency respondents and local preschool directors, and in-person interviews with district administrators, principals, kindergarten teachers, and other KEA assessors.
