Activity Directions: Action Planning

1. It is necessary to have selected at least one effective instructional practice for implementation. To do that, complete the Instructional Practices strategy in the Getting Started section prior to this action. 

2. Complete the Writing Outcome, Effort, and Fidelity Goals activity.

3. Ensure access to the  Action Planning Template for all participants.

4. If also completing the Planning for a Decision-Support Data System activity as part of this process, ensure access to that activity and the associated tools. 

1. Review the outcome, effort, and fidelity goals.

2. Determine the big actions needed to support implementation of effective practices. Record them in the Action Planning Template. Consider:

a. Both opportunities and constraints, such as time, staff, budget, and policies (including the data system)

b. Professional learning opportunities needed to train and support educators

c. Communication with stakeholders

d. Data identification, collection, analysis, and use for decision making 

§ Suggestion: So that the team can determine whether it reaches its goals, use the Planning for a Decision-Support Data System activity to identify necessary data and plan for its collection, analysis, and use.

e. Materials and resources that need to be developed (such as practice profiles, measurement tools, etc).

f. Intersections with curriculum and assessment development

3. For each action, identify:

a. The detailed steps needed to make that action happen.

b. Expected outcomes: What does success look like? What goal(s) will this action help us achieve?

c. How will we know it is completed or we are successful?

d. Timeline: Be as specific as possible. Include deadlines and specific dates where possible and relevant. Try to avoid long periods of time, such as “October through May,” as this is harder to track and hold each other accountable.

e. Roles: Who is responsible? Be as specific as possible (try to avoid “the team.”) If someone outside the leadership team needs to be involved, write actions or steps to ensure the necessary communication occurs. 

4. Use the plan regularly. 

a. As the team reviews steps, make notes about next steps as actions and steps are completed. Turn the “next steps” into new actions and steps. 

b. Use the Gather Data on Supports and Evaluate Supports activities to make adjustments to your plan based on what data reveals.