Statewide Implementation and Scale-up of the Pyramid Model

Dr. Mariyn Torley, Principle of Clifton Early Learning Academy, explains how the Pyramid Model practices and using data-based decision-making helps to make effective change within her school.

Dr. Mariyn Torley, Principle of Clifton Early Learning Academy, explains how the Pyramid Model practices and using data-based decision-making helps to make effective change within her school.

Distance coaching has been an option to address challenges in finding time and opportunities to meet. These challenges are especially evident in family childcare and rural settings. Due to our country’s recent events, many coaches are finding ways to do their coaching from a distance. We discuss distance coaching as one way to address this issue. We also discuss the successes and challenges of distance coaching through our panelists? experiences, and how program leadership teams and coaches can implement specific supports to make distance coaching successful.

The Leadership Team can use this document to guide the three steps of data review and decision-making (Look-Think-Act). The guide provides the information on the data to review, the questions to consider, and potential actions. This guide is used with the data summaries of the Program Coaching Log.

Overview of what a Pyramid Model Program Coach is, their requirements and responsibilities.

Overview of what a Pyramid Model Program Coach is, their requirements and responsibilities.

The Program Coaching log is used to log coaching activities to an implementation site.

This spreadsheet is designed for use by one program coach who coaches multiple implementation sites.? Data are provided on the time and activities used across all implementation sites (coach summary) and for each individual implementation site (program summary).

This fact sheet describes how states are implementing, funding, and planning for expansion and sustainability of their Program Implementation Coach cadre.

This tip sheet provides guidance for program leadership teams on establishing unique identification codes (IDs) instead of using names and other identifying information for data collected about children, early interventionists, and teachers.

This fact sheet describes the various roles and responsibilities of Program Implementation Coaches and their work with state, community, and program leadership teams.

The State Summary of Program Coaching log is used by states to summarize coaching data from program coaches who coach multiple implementation sites.

The State Benchmarks of Quality is used by a collaborative State Leadership Team (SLT) to assess progress and plan future actions so that Pyramid Model practices are available for providers and families statewide. The Benchmarks are grounded in the science of implementation which bridges the gap between an evidence-based practice (EBP) and the actual high-fidelity implementation of that practice. For a form and spreadsheet that is not Pyramid Model specific, please refer to this page: http://ectacenter.org/sig/boq.asp.

The State Benchmarks of Quality is used by a collaborative State Leadership Team (SLT) to assess progress and plan future actions so that Pyramid Model practices are available for providers and families statewide. The Benchmarks are grounded in the science of implementation which bridges the gap between an evidence-based practice (EBP) and the actual high-fidelity implementation of that practice. For a form and spreadsheet that is not Pyramid Model specific, please refer to this page: http://ectacenter.org/sig/boq.asp.

This resource provides a sample of the items and activities that should be present in a sustainability and scale-up plan.

This resource describes the data elements that might be included in the different evaluation reports in a state system implementing the Pyramid Model.

Sample agenda for state team’s first meeting

The Community-Wide Benchmarks of Quality (CW-BoQ) Excel workbook is used to enter and summarize CW-BoQ data.

The Community-Wide Benchmarks of Quality (CW-BoQ) was developed to provide Community Leadership Teams (CLT) with a tool to identify the critical elements for implementing the Pyramid Model for Promoting the Social and Emotional Competence of Infants and Young Children within early childhood education and care programs across the community. This tool might be used by a regional entity that has oversight for early childhood education programs in an area (e.g., county, service district), by a school district or Head Start grantee that has classrooms across multiple schools and programs, or by a community-level cross-sector team that has been formed to implement and scale-up Pyramid Model implementation.

This NCPMI Resource Collection provides resources for states, communities and early childhood programs aimed to prevent the use of exclusionary practices. The resources, predominantly found on the NCPMI website, provide information about exclusionary practices related to prevention, policies, data tools, equity and impact. Formats include guides, tip sheets, fact sheets, webinars, and video.

This document provides state leadership teams with guidance on how to prevent suspension and expulsion by integrating with existing efforts including Pyramid Model, Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS), inclusion and State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) efforts. This resource is organized around the Guiding Principles and Recommendations from the federal Joint Policy Statement on Expulsion and Suspension Policies in Early Childhood Settings (HHS/ED, 2014).

This resource outlines the data coordination responsibilities of a state -wide system implementing the Pyramid Model.

This Roadmap is a guide to implementing widespread use of the Pyramid Model.

This Excel template is for states to organize their unique IDs for programs implementation coaches, and programs.

This checklist can help assess the SLT’s ability to work well as a team, make progress, and to ensure members are engaged and committed to the statewide implementation and scale-up work over time. The quality of teaming and decision-making is predictive of the productivity, commitment, and sustainability of the SLT itself as well as making progress on the State Leadership Team Benchmarks of Quality (SBoQ). While some of the items are similar to items on the SBoQ, this compilation is comprised of features or characteristics of the SLT that contribute to sustainability.

This tools is designed for use by State Leadership Teams to foster awareness, careful discussion and ongoing action planning to maximize equity considerations during Pyramid Model statewide implementation.

The State Summary of Program Coaching log is used by states to summarize coaching data from program coaches who coach multiple implementation sites.

Template for state team action plan

The Statewide Implementation Guide is an important resource for the use of this approach. The guide is based on results and evidence from the multi-year Pyramid Model implementation initiative in 25 states. It includes tools, materials, and examples derived from the Pyramid Model and ECTA’s DEC Recommended Practices implementation technical assistance (Smith et al., 2017).

This worksheet guides the State Leadership Team (SLT) to develop a written Sustainability and Scale-up plan for statewide implementation of the Pyramid Model. Considerations for 3- and 5-year actions are provided across all 4 Essential Structures.

Team meeting evaluation sample

Team meeting summary

Team meeting sign in sheet

This resource provides State Leadership Teams with guidance on the collection and analysis of behavior incident report data from programs.

Implementing the Pyramid Model with fidelity and achieving positive outcomes for children and their families requires that administrators understand their roles in the implementation process. Every administrative decision impacts program quality and sustainability. This issue brief underscores the importance of facilitative administrative practices that provide sustained commitment, timely training, competent coaching, the use of process and outcome data for decision-making, and the development of policies and procedures that are aligned with high-fidelity implementation (July, 2009).

This brief provides information on the use of exclusionary discipline practices within early childhood programs and how program-wide implementation of the Pyramid Model for Promoting the Social and Emotional Competence for Infants and Young Children can eliminate the use of these practices.

A growing number of states and communities are implementing the Pyramid Model in early care and education settings, and in many of these places there are also early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) programs operating. This practice brief provides an overview of ECMHC, how it can support the implementation of the Pyramid Model and the issues that arise when administrators seek to integrate these two approaches at the state and local levels. Mental health consultants can: (1) serve as coaches for implementing the Pyramid practices; (2) serve as adjuncts to coaches, by working with children, families and teachers; and (3) use the Pyramid Model to inform and organize their own strategies for working with teachers and families. (November, 2009).

In recent years, there have been major concerns expressed regarding the use of restraint and seclusion to control the behavior of children with disabilities and/or challenging behavior. In May of 2009, for example, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released findings regarding a number of cases in which seclusion and restraint were abused to the point that children were physically and psychologically injured. Some children even died while being restrained. The great potential for abuse and injury has led many school districts, state agencies, and state governments to issue policies, regulations and laws that limit the use of restraint and seclusion. Many of these regulations and statutes effectively prohibit the use of restraint and seclusion except in cases of orthopedic necessity and obvious emergencies in which a child is in imminent danger. Still, there remains uncertainty about what constitutes restraint and seclusion and what should be done as an alternative. The purpose of this document is to review these issues and discuss positive strategies that can be used to prevent behaviors that could lead to considerations of these invasive and potentially-dangerous practices. (February, 2011).

A growing body of evidence confirms that serious and persistent challenging behaviors in early childhood directly relate to later problems in school success, social relationships, educational and vocational success, and social adjustment. This brief addresses several important questions policy makers may have about challenging behavior and how these issues relate to young children served under IDEA (January, 2007).

This brief provides information about and links to resources for state, community, and program leaders to support efforts to sustain, scale, and expand high fidelity Pyramid Model practices. Also included are additional considerations related to fidelity, leadership, and equity.

This resource provides a snapshot of the sequence of events in scaling up the Pyramid Model practices in new communities and programs while maintaining high fidelity implementation in existing communities and programs.

This white paper provides information on the importance of inclusion and how the Pyramid Model might be used in statewide initiatives to increase the use of inclusive practices.

While Colorado as a state has the highest Indicator 6 data in the country, the Preschool Team at the Colorado Department of Education sought to more deeply understand the quality of inclusive practices being implemented in publicly funded preschool classrooms across the state. This webinar will describe a study that was conducted to gather information from special educators and related service providers on how inclusive practices are implemented in programs and inform barriers to inclusion at the local policy and procedural level. Results of this study will be shared along with next steps the state will take to move forward to improve the dosage and quality of inclusive practices delivered to children.

This webinar will focus on implementing, scaling and sustaining high fidelity Pyramid Model statewide. Panelists from three states will share their experiences and resources they use to address State Leadership Team structure and membership, policy decisions, strategies for funding, and supporting high fidelity implementation of the Pyramid Model.

Many state leaders use the evidence-based Pyramid Model framework as an approach to build social and emotional competence in early care and education programs. Wisdom gleaned by state leaders to systematically implement, scale up and sustain their Pyramid Model efforts are being highlighted in this webinar series. Each webinar includes lessons learned and resources related to specific aspects of statewide implementation. We welcome champions of this work to join, share, and learn with us.

This webinar will focus on implementing, scaling and sustaining the Pyramid Model in states through the development of fiscal policy. A framework for a policy development process and types of public policy specific to funding will be shared. Panelists from states will share their success stories in the leverage of fiscal policy supporting the scaling and sustainability of the Pyramid Model.

Many state leaders use the evidence-based Pyramid Model framework as an approach to build social and emotional competence in early care and education programs. Wisdom gleaned by state leaders to systematically implement, scale up and sustain their Pyramid Model efforts are being highlighted in this webinar series. Each webinar includes lessons learned and resources related to specific aspects of statewide implementation. We welcome champions of this work to join, share, and learn with us.

This video reviews the support structures and resources for state-wide implementation and experiene of one state implementing state-wide.

This webinar provides two states’ journeys on implementing and scaling up Pyramid Model Community-Wide efforts. Each state will share their unique experiences on how they got started with Community-Wide, lessons learned, tools they use, successes they are seeing in the communities, and the collaboration efforts with the state early childhood systems.

Overview of what a Pyramid Model Program Coach is, their requirements and responsibilities.

Overview of what a Pyramid Model Program Coach is, their requirements and responsibilities.

This original online workshop was 3 hours in length including 3 small group breakouts of 30 minutes each. The recording of the workshop has been edited to be 1 hour in length and can be used with the related resources as a guided workshop for individuals or groups involved in the statewide implementation of the Pyramid Model.

The recording is 60 minutes with agenda items for small group work sessions for additional time allotments. The first 45 minutes of the recording gives context and rationale for sustaining and scaling the Pyramid Model as well as provides descriptions of the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations (NCPMI) tools and resources related to statewide scale-up and sustainability and a related guided small group break out session.

A brief that describes the research supporting the implementation of Pyramid Model practices in preschool and kindergarten classrooms.

These collaborative team meeting ground rules help to make meetings productive and efficient while promoting shared team ownership.

The Early Childhood Implementation (ECI) Snapshots are briefs that highlight helpful resources for early childhood system leaders and other professionals providing implementation support for systems and programs as they implement evidence-based practices to improve child and family outcomes.

Conducting effective, productive and relational meetings is foundational to Pyramid Model implementation. This set of guidelines for facilitating meetings is evidence and practice based and, when implemented, will result in meetings where people feel their voices were heard and that produced outcomes.

Family members were surveyed about their family’s experience at their child’s program implementing the Pyramid Model. This infographic shows the percent of families that agreed or strongly agreed with the statements reflecting family and program partnerships, and what their child has learned.

Vinh, M., Strain, P., Davidon, S., & Smith, B.J. (2016). One state’s systems change efforts to reduce child care expulsion: Taking the Pyramid Model to scale. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 36, 159-164.

Overview of program-wide implementation to use in the recruitment of implementation sites. Describes components, considerations, and addresses frequently asked questions.

This resource answers some of the most frequently asked questions about the collection and summary of Pyramid Model data.

This infographic represents data compiled from a survey sent to programs in 9 states engaged in statewide implementation using the Pyramid Model state implementation and scale up plan. The resource can be used by state and program leaders wishing to implement the Pyramid Model as a tool for awareness, marketing and to solicit funding. It can also be used as a tool to share the benefits of Pyramid Model with families and community members.