Abstract
This case study describes the iterative process used to develop a virtual coaching program for out-of-school-time (OST) educators, particularly those who work in afterschool and library settings. The program, called ACRES (Afterschool Coaching for Reflective Educators in STEM), used a design-based implementation research (DBIR) approach to consider issues related to scale-up. Afterschool and library settings are complex systems that include supports and barriers that require adaptation for implementation. Throughout the design process, program developers worked to identify the essential elements of the program that should be maintained across contexts, while attending to the diverse needs of individual OST settings. Survey and interview data were collected from the full range of stakeholders throughout the implementation process to verify the importance of the essential elements to the professional learning model, and to gather early indicators of the program’s potential related to three key concepts for successful scale-up of programs: sustainability, spread, and shift. Conclusions are shared in relation to how these types of results support the scale-up of programs, and the strengths and gaps in the process used to apply the DBIR approach in our work.
Highlights
After a successful initial implementation period, one of the primary goals of innovative educational programs is to scale up, or to be implemented across a number of diverse educational contexts
In this design-based implementation research (DBIR) work we focus on two problems of practice that are frequently faced by OST educators in relation to their growing roles as STEM educators: 1) Despite the demands on them to offer high-quality STEM programming, they are in systems that rarely promote investments in their professional learning to support this goal
It acknowledges the fact that programs are embedded in complex systems, and promotes study across multiple levels of a system as part of the design process
Summary
After a successful initial implementation period, one of the primary goals of innovative educational programs is to scale up, or to be implemented across a number of diverse educational contexts. The motivation for scaling up is the hope that sharing the innovation widely will improve teaching and student learning throughout a system (Fullan, 2009; Peurach and Glazer, 2012) This is often a challenging feat for new educational programs (Levin, 2013; DeWire et al, 2017), especially considering the dynamic, complex needs of each unique educational setting within the system. While some define scaling up as “more” (i.e., implementation in more schools or programs, with more teachers and more students), others recognize the multifaceted nature of scaling up (Coburn, 2003; Dede et al, 2007). Coburn states that the process is complex, and includes four interrelated elements: depth (changes in beliefs, norms, and pedagogy), sustainability
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