Activity Directions: Practice Profiles

1. Make enough copies of the Action Overview for Developing Practice Profiles, as well as Developing Practice Profiles hand out for each participant.

2. Ensure participants have access to the research or readings that provide information for the selected practice.

3. Ensure the organization’s current goals are accessible to all participants.

Facilitators should review the directions and the handouts.

1. Establish the purpose of this meeting: To define the specificity of the selected practice that was chosen from the activities in Getting Started Instruction: Creating a Shared Focus for Instruction from the Getting Started portion of the portal.

2. If participants have not yet done so, provide time to read the Action Overview, “Developing Practice Profiles” as well as the handout, Practice Profile Template.
Use the following questions to reflect on the practice profiles:

a. How do you see how practice profiles will help us meet our goals?

b. What questions do you have about Practice Profiles?

3. Research: Once participants are familiar with the tool, ask participants to read through the provided research and individually take notes on the Practice Profile Template. (This step could be done outside of the meeting, and participants come to meeting with their notes.)

4. Collaboration: Bring participants together to discuss and work collaboratively on sharing their findings, and come to consensus on what the research says that the teacher moves are for the different components of the practice. Record the consensus version in a shared document.

5. This collaboratively developed tool can be used in PLCs, coaching, and for the leadership team to develop common understanding of the practice it is supporting. Use the following protocol to facilitate conversation when introducing the practice.

6. Examining Effective Practices Protocol

Practice profile methodology is aligned with continuous quality improvement — optimizing the

use of effective practices, and enabling ongoing learning among teachers to improve the sustainability of evidence in the classroom.  After educators have the chance to read through the practice profile, use the following questions to guide an initial conversation. 

a. What are your thoughts after reading through the core components and the expected teacher moves? 

b. What do you see as the strengths in the core components and the expected teacher moves?  What are your strengths in relation to the core components and expected teacher moves?

c. What do you notice as areas to refine or more fully implement? 

d. Did you notice anything missing? 

Available here: Practice Profiles

Citation: Metz, A. (2016). Practice profiles: A process for capturing evidence and operationalizing innovations. National Implementation Research Network White Paper. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, National Implementation Research Network.