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Implementation Science

At FPG, our implementation researchers and practitioners work in communities and schools to use best practices from implementation science to support the implementation and scaling of evidence-informed programs and practices to improve outcomes and advance equity for children, youth, and families and the communities where they live. Through rigorous study designs, our implementation researchers and practitioners contribute to building the evidence for implementation strategies, frameworks, and models that can support effective translation of research evidence into practice settings. They also develop formative measures for assessing and improving implementation capacity in communities and service systems.

A hallmark of our work is a focus on implementation practice and the identification of skills and competencies needed to support implementation efforts and ensure sustainability and positive impacts. Through a range of partnerships and initiatives, we seek to build a workforce with the competencies needed to support effective implementation. We are committed to using science-based capacity-building approaches. And we embrace the co-creation of implementation strategies. Our capacity-building work is relationship-driven, flexible, and tailored to the assets and needs of the population to ensure that implementation strategies are a good contextual fit, relevant, and sustainable.

Featured People

Will Aldridge

Will Aldridge, PhD, is a Tar Heel through and through. One of more than 10 members of his extended family to attend UNC-Chapel Hill, he earned three degrees—bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate in psychology—from the University. After completing his first year of grad school, Aldridge realized that he did not want to be a clinician or a researcher and, instead, wished to work in the field that would eventually become known as implementation science.  Now a senior implementation specialist at FPG, Aldridge provides direct implementation support for community-based Triple P scale-up and design in 10 North Carolina Triple P regions.

Keep reading to learn more about Aldridge and his work at FPG.

Sophia Farmer

Thanks to her background as a special education teacher, Implementation Specialist Sophia Farmer, MT brings real-world experience to her role as K-12 education project portfolio lead at FPG. As a teacher, Farmer worked primarily with children with specific learning disabilities and emotional/behavioral disabilities. While an undergraduate at the University of Virginia—from which she received both a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and Master’s in elementary education—Farmer realized that her high school volunteer work, which centered on reading with young students and working with English language learners, pointed her to a career in teaching.

Learn more about Farmer and her work at FPG.

Capri McDonald

Capri Banks, MA, is an implementation specialist for the Implementation Capacity for Triple P (ICTP) project within the Impact Center at FPG. Before beginning her role at the Institute, she worked for six years as a technical assistance provider and implementation coach, supporting childcare providers in implementing health and safety best practices and implementing an evidence-based obesity prevention program.

Learn more about Banks and her work at FPG.

 

Featured Projects

Math Implementation Cohort

A grant recently awarded to FPG's NIRN will help ensure students are receiving high-quality mathematics education in middle school—crucial years that can impact students’ chances at successful high school graduation and post-secondary career success. Although more middle schools are adopting high-quality math curriculum, research shows the systems that support instruction are often lacking or misaligned, especially for underrepresented and marginalized students.

NIRN will help address this issue thanks to funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

California Child Welfare CPM

The Impact Center at FPG is contributing to the development of regional and state capacities to implement the California Child Welfare Core Practice Model (CPM). In partnership with the California Department of Social Services, County Welfare Directors Association, Child and Family Policy Institute of California, California Social Work Education Center, and Regional Training Academies, our team helps collaborators co-design and support counties to implement and sustain the CPM.

Learn more about the California Child Welfare CPM.

Featured Blog Post

persons profile made up of gears with text reads implementation blog
Three components of effective coaching

Coaching is a professional development opportunity designed to support individuals in successfully using or refining effective programs or practices. Ideally, the partnership between a coach and coachee will be highly communicative and collaborative. Learn more about coaching in this month's blog post, Three components of effective coaching.

And in case you missed the previous implementation blog posts, find four reasons to invest in cross-project collaboration, learn how to escape the data doldrums and discover how to define sustainability within the context of implementation science.

Featured Product

Effective Implementation Cohort List of Readiness Assessment Tools

The overall aim of the Effective Implementation Cohort (EIC) is to increase district capacity to implement a high-quality middle years math curriculum as part of a Coherent Instructional System to accelerate learning for students. The EIC Team seeks to support partnerships between providers and Local Education Agencies in their implementation and measurement efforts, as well as to collect and study data to answer the learning questions within the Learning Agenda. In addition to improving LEA and Provider capacity, the EIC has the goal of producing reliable, practical evidence and measures to inform the planning and implementation of a district-wide, high-impact math improvement initiative. One such resource is the EIC List of Readiness Assessment Tools. The purpose of this review is to highlight published and/or peer-reviewed tools assessing the readiness of the district (i.e., system level) for the implementation of evidence-based or evidence-informed practices, programs, or resources. In our review, we found a limited availability of such tools designed specifically for and within K-12 settings at the district and systems-level; however, we noted which tools could be adapted to K-12.

Access the EIC List of Readiness Assessment Tools.

Our Priorities

Using best practices

We aim to use best practices from implementation science to integrate research and practice and improve outcomes for children and families.

Advancing equity

We aim to advance equity through the use of equitable implementation methods.

Working with stakeholders

We aim to co-create effective and relevant implementation strategies with local stakeholders.

Conducting relevant and rigorous research

We aim to conduct relevant and rigorous implementation research.

Building implementation capacity

We aim to build implementation capacity in community and service settings.

Building competencies

We aim to develop skills and competencies of professionals working to support implementation efforts.

Internship Opportunity

To promote future growth within the field of implementation science, we host an annual summer internship program that is designed to create a challenging and meaningful professional experience for the trainee(s) that includes mentoring, networking, professional development, and experiential learning opportunities. Interns benefit from exposure to implementation practice and research across diverse fields and in varied practice settings. This experience provides knowledge and skill development that should enhance and inform the intern's future academic and professional pursuits.

More about our work