[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-587311-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-587311-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","how-districts-scale-instructional-improvement-that-lasts-february-2026","How Districts Scale Instructional Improvement That Lasts - February 2026","","This practice brief explains why many districts struggle to sustain and spread instructional improvement that lasts. Drawing on data from districts’ work with California Education Partners, the authors compare effective district system engagement with common pitfalls such as delegating leadership to school principals, using informal teacher networks to spread change, and pursuing too many priorities at once. The brief argues district leaders are essential for leveraging system resources, building needed structures, and monitoring progress to adapt statewide improvement.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/how-districts-scale-instructional-improvement-that-lasts-february-2026/587311/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/how-districts-scale-instructional-improvement-that-lasts-february-2026/587311.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"วิน","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",8,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What does “scale” mean in instructional improvement in this brief?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"“Scale” includes spread, local ownership, sufficient depth of implementation, and sustaining improvements over time so adult practices and beliefs change.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"Which pitfalls prevent districts from scaling instructional improvement effectively?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The brief highlights pitfalls such as delegating leadership solely to school principals, relying on teachers’ informal networks to spread improvements, and maintaining too many priorities to focus on scaling.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"Why are district leaders described as pivotal for districtwide scaling?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"District leaders can repurpose existing system resources, create new structures to fill gaps, and monitor systemwide progress to identify and adapt to challenges.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},587311,1792075278,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":55,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},2336475104736,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/22000c4c5e0e5b17e70?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1786591360781797222","How Districts Scale Instructional Improvement That Lasts  \nH. Alix Gallagher, Leah Faw, and Benjamin W. Cottingham  \nThis practice brief explores why many districts struggle to scale lasting, instructional improvement and highlights the importance of district systems—structures and processes—in successfully  \nscaling improvement initiatives. Drawing on data from districts’ work with California Education Partners, the authors contrast effective district system engagement with common pitfalls such as delegating leadership to school principals, relying on teachers’ informal networks to spread improvements, and maintaining too many priorities to focus effectively on scaling up. District leaders play a pivotal role in engaging system components to support teachers and schools in districtwide improvement because only these leaders have the authority to repurpose existing system resources, create new structures as needed to fill gaps, and monitor systemwide progress to identify and adapt to challenges.  \nDistricts in California (and across the country) work hard to improve instruction and student outcomes. Many attempts at new reforms fail to achieve their desired outcomes, however, and are rapidly replaced by new initiatives. California Education Partners has been developing an approach  \nthat supports districts in building systems that help break the cycle of endless waves of  \nshort-lived change, positioning districts to scale solutions beyond the end of a traditional technical assistance partnership. This publication on building capacity to improve instruction is an extension of the three-part series Taking Reform to Scale published by PACE in December 2024.  \nFebruary 2026  \nIntroduction  \nWhy do so many school districts’ efforts to improve instruction fail? Coburn’s 2003 work examined districts’ implementation of literacy reforms, seeking to understand the features of implementation that led to durable improvements in student outcomes, which she described as reform at “scale.”1 She found that, in addition to spread (increasing the number of people doing a practice), truly scaling improvement requires that the new approaches have local ownership, be implemented at sufficient depth to lead to substantive changes in adult practices and beliefs, and be sustained over time. When we use the word scale, we are describing all four of these components.  \nThe purpose of this brief is to lift up the role of district systems—structures and processes—in enabling successful scaling of instructional improvement across the entire district. In our work, we have seen that some districts already have the capacity to implement reform at scale2 whereas others are in earlier stages of building needed structures and processes.3 This brief relies on data from our ongoing research partnership with California Education Partners (Ed Partners) to illustrate how engaging a district’s system can support scaling instructional improvement to change student outcomes across a district. The brief contrasts such system engagement with other more common and less effective approaches to implementation. Although building ownership of improvement at the teacher and building level is critical, we find that district leaders play a pivotal role in enabling improvement to scale across a district because they are uniquely positioned to leverage the entire district system. Therefore, our findings have implications for the role leaders play when trying to scale improvement across their districts.  \nBackground  \nEd Partners currently has eight collaborations serving 51 teams from 45 districts and one County Office of Education (COE), along with 12 districts in that county. The goal of the collaborations is to help districts build their system capacity for instructional improvement in the service of better student outcomes. The collaborations provide participating districts with coaching and partnership opportunities with a cohort of other districts working on the same topic.","cbCaiu14tLJs14hC","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiu14tLJs14hC","pdf",1036962,18,"English","# Introduction\n## Why many reforms fail to scale\n## Purpose and approach of the brief\n# Background\n## Ed Partners collaborations and goals\n## Two collaboration topics\n## Fundamentals for system coherence and impact","[{\"question\":\"What does “scale” mean in instructional improvement in this brief?\",\"answer\":\"“Scale” includes spread, local ownership, sufficient depth of implementation, and sustaining improvements over time so adult practices and beliefs change.\"},{\"question\":\"Which pitfalls prevent districts from scaling instructional improvement effectively?\",\"answer\":\"The brief highlights pitfalls such as delegating leadership solely to school principals, relying on teachers’ informal networks to spread improvements, and maintaining too many priorities to focus on scaling.\"},{\"question\":\"Why are district leaders described as pivotal for districtwide scaling?\",\"answer\":\"District leaders can repurpose existing system resources, create new structures to fill gaps, and monitor systemwide progress to identify and adapt to challenges.\"}]","How Districts Scale Instructional Improvement That Lasts - February 2026 | PDF",1792061433,45]