The Illusion of Progress: Checking the Boxes

When it comes to curriculum implementation, many leaders start by tackling the visible tasks — checking boxes, solving the obvious problems, and making technical tweaks. It feels productive; it feels like you are making meaningful progress, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg.

True, lasting implementation goes deeper. It’s about the long game — navigating change, supporting people through the journey, and addressing the unseen challenges that shape success. We can think of these two approaches as the parts of an iceberg, one shallow and one deep.

Curious what lies beneath the surface of curriculum implementation? Let’s explore together.

The Limitations of a Technical Launch

Curriculum implementation often begins with a small, centralized group, typically the district’s academic or teaching and learning team, which includes the chief academic officer and district content leads. The focus is likely on logistics, including distributing materials, scheduling basic publisher-provided training, and ensuring everyone has what they need. It’s a technical process, often compared to packing for a trip, ensuring people have the right “things” without diving into what the journey will truly require. This approach can feel top-down, more like a mandate than a shared effort. 

This technical approach typically occurs in a short burst, lasting one or two days over the summer or at the start of the new school year, and is framed as an orientation before the launch. Everyone gathers in a large room, receives information, and leaves with a general sense of the curriculum’s features. The outcomes of this approach are often limited to surface-level understanding, with little attention to how people will actually engage with the materials or adapt to the changes ahead.

 

The Benefits of an Adaptive Leadership Launch

When curriculum implementation is approached as true systems change, it involves more than just one team; it brings together a cross-section of stakeholders across the district and schools: district leaders, campus leaders, teachers, and students. It becomes a shared journey rooted in collaboration and continuous instructional improvement. 

This kind of implementation is a long-term, adaptive process. It unfolds over the course of the year or longer through intentional cycles, collecting data, assessing progress, and adjusting course along the way. At the heart of it is adaptive thinking, a leadership approach that mobilizes and empowers others to navigate change and solve challenges together (Heifetz et al., 2009). Instead of simply delivering materials, leaders support a shift in mindset, practice, and ownership across the system.

The outcomes of this adaptive approach are clear, aligned goals across all levels: district, leaders, teachers, and students. In this model, the curriculum isn’t just a set of materials; it becomes the vehicle for lasting improvements in instruction and student success.

So with that lens, here are some practical tips and tools for a successful navigation:

What Success Looks Like: Alignment and Ownership

 

Check-Point #1: Get Everyone on Board

The first system on your campus is that of your instructional leadership team. Do you have one? This team should be made up of your assistant principals, instructional coaches, or lead teachers, and specialized support teachers like the multi-language specialist and the lead for providing special services to students. In fact, students should also be a part of this journey. You want to assess how the journey and implementation of the new curriculum affect them. After all, they are the end receivers of the work.

Check-Point #2: Keep Your Eyes on the Classroom

Once you have established your team, have you identified how you will monitor the progress of implementation? Instead of monitoring progress from the deck or office, you have to be among the people. You have to continually check the pulse and monitor progress. Bambrick-Santoyo (2018) found in his work with campus leaders that they only spent about 6% of their time in classroom observations. How will you increase the amount of time you and your team spend observing and supporting implementation? How will the team engage in continuous cycles of improvement? You have to know where you are and what’s coming ahead in order to course-correct. The curriculum serves as the vehicle for driving sustained improvements in instruction and student outcomes. Remember, adopting high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) is an adaptive challenge. It requires new ways of thinking, teaching, and learning.

Check-Point#3: Build Deep Curriculum Mastery Over Time

Focus your attention on the following three elements of building mastery:

1. Teacher Professional Learning

Teachers need curriculum-based training focused on building content knowledge and strengthening pedagogical practices. Professional learning should be an ongoing endeavor, offered just-in-time, and grounded in data and gaps or bright spots identified through progress monitoring. In addition to formal professional learning, teachers also need the time and support to internalize new HQIM lessons and expectations.

2. An Adaptive Approach to Teacher Support

Some teachers may take time to buy into and begin using a new curriculum. Have regular check-ins with teachers to see how they are experiencing implementation. Go on a listening tour of classrooms and PLCs to see and hear the experience of teachers and students. Consider how you will support teachers and model productive mindsets about the curriculum.

3. An Adaptive Plan to Deepen Instructional Leadership Team Understanding

The better the instructional leadership team understands the curriculum and its expectations, the more prepared they’ll be to provide teacher feedback and coaching grounded in the curriculum. Have regular lesson internalizations with campus leaders and collaborate on classroom walkthroughs focused on collecting real-time data and observing student work. Practice possible feedback that leaders can provide to teachers in a timely manner. Rely on your team to brainstorm and implement ideas. Rely on the data to highlight teachers who are successfully navigating the implementation of HQIM.

References

Bambrick-Santoyo, P. (2018). Leverage leadership 2.0: A practical guide to building exceptional schools. Jossey-Bass.

Heifetz, R. A., Linsky, M., & Grashow, A. (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world. Harvard Business Press.