Easy for you to Say: Teacher Perspectives on Implementing Most Promising Practices

Abstract

Difficulties in translating innovations that have been validated by researchers into practices that will be used by practitioners are widely acknowledged. Nevertheless, research on systems change is sparse and teachers are seldom asked for their perspectives on the implementation of innovations. Special education teachers (n = 83) from five states in regions known for their efforts to develop quality educational programs for students with severe disabilities were surveyed for their knowledge and skills, the actual presence of quality indicators in their programs, and difficulties they experience in implementing various most promising practices. The results indicate that the self-reported ratings of the presence of the indicators is correlated with both teacher skill and degree of implementation difficulty. Analyses of teachers' comments to an open-ended question reveal common concerns regarding time constraints and administrative support as major obstacles to implementation. The results are discussed in the context of the nature of education as an applied science, the need for a research-to-practice literature on the implementation process for practitioners, and the need to acknowledge explicitly the support variables present in research on educational innovations that may be essential to implementation in practice.