Implement. Change in Education

#34 Blog: Failure doesn't teach you anything about success: Why school turnaround research keeps missing the mark

A pathologist’s autopsy report can tell you exactly how a patient died. But it tells you absolutely nothing about how to live a long, vibrant life. For twenty years, K-12 education has been running an autopsy model. We call it "school turnaround." Between 2010 and 2016, the federal School Improvement Grants program poured roughly $7 billion into turning around struggling schools. The result? Null impacts on math, reading, and graduation rates. As Marcus Buckingham puts it: “Failure doesn't teach you anything about success.” Instead of spending all our energy auditing the bottom 5% and studying what broke, what if we systematically studied our "positive deviants"? What if we found the classrooms, schools, and districts that are already producing 5-star experiences with the exact same resources and engineered the conditions for those bright spots to spread? In our latest blog post and podcast episode, we break down why the turnaround industry keeps missing the mark, and share 3 moves district and state leaders can make right now to shift their strategy from deficit remediation to scaling what works.

#33 Guest: Dr. Maria Navarro and Dr. Sonja Brookins Santelises on Kids in the System you Lead

What does it really look like to lead a school district when your own children are learning inside that same system?In this episode of "𝑰𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑬𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏", I’m joined by two extraordinary Maryland leaders: Dr. Maria Navarro, Superintendent of Charles County Public Schools, and Dr. Sonja Brookins-Santelises, CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools. Together, we explore a side of educational leadership that rarely gets discussed: what it means to serve as both a superintendent and a parent within the same system.A few moments that stood out:- The “fishbowl” effect of leading in public while your children experience the system up close.- The honest, real-time insight children can offer about what is working and what needs attention.- The balance between being a district leader, being a parent, and knowing when to step in.- The reminder that educators, counselors, coaches, and school communities show up for children with deep care every day.At its heart, this conversation is about leadership, family, and the people who make public education work. Whether you are a parent, educator, school system leader, or someone who simply cares about the schools where children learn and grow, this episode offers a thoughtful look at what it takes to lead complex systems with purpose, humility, and care.And if you’d like to take a deeper dive into their previous podcast appearances, where we explore their work and accomplishments in greater detail, listen to episode #19 with Dr. Navarro and episode #6 with Dr. Brookins-Santelises. Listen here: https://buff.ly/bKWk70p

#32 Blog: How Does Your District Stack Up on the Blueprint?

Maryland's $3.8B education bet had no scorecard — so we built one.
24 districts. 43 indicators. 685+ documents. The bright spots might surprise you.
Maryland's first official Blueprint evaluation publishes in December 2026. The earliest quantitative data comes a year later. But the Governor and legislature need to make major policy and funding decisions in the 2027 session — before the evidence is in.
The Education Trust Fund (casino revenues) runs out in FY2028.
**MarylandBlueprint.com reads every district's Blueprint implementation, scores it against a consistent rubric, and surfaces the bright spots — with source citations.**
Some highlights from the May 1, 2026 analysis:
Pillar 2 — NBC Teacher Pipeline Is a Statewide Flywheel
Baltimore County grew from 4 to 122 NBCTs (2,950%). Prince George's from 7 to 157 (2,143%). Newly certified NBCTs are being deployed as cohort coaches, creating a self-reinforcing talent pipeline. P2 is the only pillar where 9 districts already Exceed.
Pillar 4 — Community Schools Are Moving Both Attendance and Academics
Carroll County's community schools posted +24.1pp ELA and +26.9pp math gains in a single year. Somerset cut chronic absenteeism by 22.6pp while designating 100% of schools as community schools.
District Bright Spots:
Montgomery County (76.8%) — The only district with zero pillars below "Meets." Most balanced profile statewide.
Allegany County (74.4%, 4th overall) — A small rural district outperforming Howard, Baltimore County, and Baltimore City.
Garrett County (69.6%) — All five pillars at "Meets." 100% of middle schoolers completing career assessments. Unlimited dual enrollment.
Built for district leaders. Essential for everyone tracking Blueprint implementation — legislators, advocates, educators, journalists, and researchers.
Register for the demo and launch on May 21st at 12noon EST: https://tidycal.com/tomdewire/blueprint-bright-spots-whats-working-across-marylands-24-districts

#31 Guest: Delaware Department of Labor Leadership Academy 2026 Keynote Excerpt

One of the biggest challenges I see across systems is the gap between a strong plan and real results.
In this episode of Implement Change in Education, I share an excerpt from a talk I gave at the Delaware Department of Labor’s Leadership Academy, a month-long development opportunity for promising managers of people and projects.
Through two powerful stories - one from healthcare and one from child nutrition work in Vietnam. I explore what it takes to move from strategy to execution.
I break down two different implementation challenges:
When we know the goal and the evidence-based moves, but execution is the barrier
When we do not yet know the answer and need to find the bright spots already working in the field
This episode focuses on making change practical. Whether you are leading literacy improvement, strengthening workforce systems, improving access to benefits, or trying to move a complex organization toward better outcomes, the same question applies:
How do we make it easier for people to do the right thing?
If you are leading change, managing teams, or trying to close the gap between planning and results, this episode is worth a listen.
Show Note Links:
University of Delaware Institute for Public Administration
How to Implement Just About Anything by Tom DeWire
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

#30 Blog: With Tighter Budgets, How Might Schools Navigate Strategy for SY2627?

With tighter budgets, what do you actually protect? Across the country, school and district leaders are facing tough choices for SY26–27 - shrinking funds, rising costs, and real pressure to cut. But the biggest risk isn’t the budget itself; it’s losing what’s already working. In our latest blog post and podcast episode, we explore a simple but critical question: How do you protect hard-won student gains when resources shrink? It comes down to three moves: • Anchor decisions in research • Assess implementation health • Align your budget to your strategy, not the other way around Because one misaligned budget cycle can undo years of progress.Link to blog post

#29 Guest: Superintendent of Howard County Public Schools - William J. Barnes

One of the clearest takeaways from my conversation with William Barnes, Superintendent of Howard County Public Schools:
“We’re not going to claim greatness until we’re great for all of our students.”
Superintendent Barnes leads one of Maryland’s most well-regarded districts, but what stood out most was his honesty about the students the system has not yet served well and his urgency around changing that.
In this episode of Implement. Change in Education, we talk about what it really looks like to implement Blueprint Pillar 4 in a high-performing district: aligning funding to student need, expanding special education supports, navigating redistricting, and treating the budget as a strategic tool for equity.
If you are thinking about resource allocation, equity, or change leadership, this one is worth a listen. Show Note Links:- Howard County Public School System 

#28 Blog: Organizations Change Differently Than Leaders Imagine

Organizations Change Differently Than Leaders Imagine
The superintendent exhaled. "We rolled this out eight months ago. Trained everyone. Built the dashboard. And half the schools are doing something completely different."
I've heard some version of that in almost every system I've worked in. The plan was clear, the training solid, and yet what happened on the ground looked nothing like what anyone had drawn up.
There's a line from Bob Sutton, Stanford professor, that captures this perfectly:
"Organizations are flexible and imaginative, but rarely change just as any leader or group intends."
Sutton was paraphrasing James G. March, whose 1958 classic 𝘖𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 laid the foundation for modern organizational theory. March's central finding? Organizations are remarkably adaptive; they absorb new people, tools, and pressures all the time. But they move according to their own logic, not according to anyone's slide deck.
Here's what this means for leaders:
The gap between your intent and organizational reality isn't failure; it's where the real work lives. This is especially true for ambitious reforms like early literacy initiatives or state-level blueprints, where the distance between plan and practice determines whether you get results or just compliance theater.
A more realistic approach:
▪️ Expect drift, not perfect alignment
▪️ Look for small, local adaptations as signals of life
▪️ Treat change as a series of experiments, not a single plan
▪️ Honor the gap between what you intend and what people experience
 
Questions worth asking before your next change effort:
▪️ Where is the organization already adapting in useful ways?
▪️ What do local workarounds tell us about design misalignment?
▪️ What's the minimum consistency we actually need?
▪️ How will we learn quickly from early, messy implementation?
 
Organizations are always changing. The question is whether you'll pay attention when it does and be wise enough to work with it.Show Note Links:Bob Sutton - Stanford professor and organizational leadership researcherJames G. March - scholar of organizational theoryOrganizations (1958) - James G. March & Herbert A. SimonEducation Innovation and Research (EIR) Program

#27 Guest: Delaware Early Literacy Emergency: Kathy Kelly and Sam Lougheed

How do you turn an emergency declaration into a sustainable literacy system?Delaware is showing us.
 
With only 39% of third graders proficient in reading, Governor Meyer declared a state of emergency. But what followed wasn’t just policy; it was an implementation strategy.
 
In this episode, Kathy Kelly and Sam Lougheed unpack the hard work of turning Science of Reading principles and high-quality instructional materials into daily classroom practice across an entire state.
 
What I LOVE about this conversation is the focus on the delivery chain from the state office to districts, schools, classrooms, and families. Kathy and Sam break down the four key drivers of their work:
 
- Strengthening Tier 1 instruction
- Job-embedded professional learning
- Strategic staffing
- Meaningful family engagement
 
They’re hiring literacy coaches, launching Bridge to Practice grants, and building an Early Literacy Playbook to help teachers move from adoption to skillful implementation.
 
This is change management at scale in a system that doesn’t always welcome change.
If you’re leading literacy improvement, improving instructional quality, or driving implementation in a complex system, this episode offers practical strategies and hard-earned lessons you can apply immediately.

#26 Blog: MDBlueprint.com

Today I'm launching MarylandBlueprint.com — and opening it to just 25 education leaders. The Blueprint for Maryland's Future is buried in 5,000+ pages of AIB reports, district plans, and accountability decisions. MarylandBlueprint.com uses AI to turn that into something useful: district profiles, cross-district comparisons, pillar analyses, and an AI query tool where you can ask questions in plain language and get cited answers. I'm looking for 25 Blueprint Coordinators, Pillar Leads, and education leaders to join as the founding group. What founding members get: → Founding Member status on the platform → Direct input into what gets analyzed next → A personalized district comparison report — your district vs. 3 peers of your choosing → A 30-minute strategy call with me to walk through your profile.25 spots. They close Tuesday, Feb 17 at noon. If you're responsible for Blueprint implementation at the district or state level, create your account at MarylandBlueprint.com.Show Note Links:How to Implement (just about) AnythingAccountability and Implementation Board (AIB)Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE)State Board

#25 Guest: Eric Roberts & Brady Wheeler

In this episode, I’m joined by two Baltimore leaders advancing career readiness at scale, Brady Wheeler, Senior Program Manager for the Baltimore City Career Coach Initiative at the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, and Eric Roberts, Director of Post-Secondary Success at Baltimore City Public Schools.
Together, we dive into Maryland Blueprint Pillar 3 (college & career readiness) and what it takes to implement career coaching for students in grades 6–12, including the state’s ambitious goal that 45% of graduates will complete a registered apprenticeship or earn an industry-recognized credential by 2030–2031.
Baltimore City’s approach has scaled quickly now supporting 115 schools with 46 career coaches, reaching 73% of middle schoolers and 55% of high school students. Last year, coaches facilitated 2,000+ events and engaged 500+ employer partners to expand access to real career exploration opportunities.
Top 3 Insights: 
Scaling fast takes trust + principal buy-in: The team shares how town halls, regular check-ins, and school-by-school support helped strengthen implementation.
Career planning starts in middle school: Blueprint’s six-year plan sets the expectation that every student builds a pathway from middle school through graduation.
It’s a team sport: Eric describes the “triangle offense” — career coaches, counselors, post-secondary advisors, and partners working together to support every student’s next steps. 
We close with what’s next: stronger shared systems, aligned professional learning, and better data visibility so every team member can support students more seamlessly.