Investigators from the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) recently shared work around the importance of implementation teams. During the 2025 North Carolina Association for Research in Education (NCARE) conference, FPG Implementation Specialist Yolanda Perkins, EdS, and FPG Research Assistant Alicia Reynolds Reddi, MPH, presented a poster titled, Unpacking the Functions of Implementation Teams in Supporting Curriculum Implementation. Senior Research Scientist Ximena Franco-Jenkins, PhD, and Research Specialist Jake Leonard, MS, also contributed to the work.

About the work

To better understand and enhance team functioning with the Effective Implementation Cohort (EIC) project, the NIRN team developed the Implementation Team Survey (ITS). Inspired by interviews with 61 school leaders, coaches, and curriculum providers who emphasized the importance of fostering cohesive implementation teams, the ITS was adapted from the Michigan Multi-tiered System of Supports (MIMTSS) survey.

The NIRN team administered the 21-item ITS to more than 100 respondents from 19 school district implementation teams. Interview findings reflected the importance of fostering cohesive implementation teams. Some interviewees highlighted the need for dedicated meeting time and shared goals to maximize impact.

For the ITS analysis, independent t-tests and a one-way ANOVA were conducted to compare the ITS total score by governance structure, leadership stability, and locale for both the 2021 and 2022 school year. No significant differences were found by any of the three district demographic predictors.

Because demographic predictors did not significantly affect team functioning, the implementation model and ITS may prove to be useful across diverse districts.

This study underscores the importance of ongoing reflection on team structure and function to drive continuous improvement and inform future research.