A Blueprint for Success: Edmentum’s Commitment to Education Consulting

When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. In other words, organization and structure from the beginning are key. These are quotes that I heard my principal say often as I began my first year of teaching, and they still hold true today both in the classroom and in the work that we do here at Edmentum. As Vice President of Professional Services, I am responsible for working with our teams to define the implementation approaches that will ensure that our school and district partners are successful. The foundation of this work begins with developing a plan, which I like to call our blueprint for success. The implementation blueprint outlines the steps we will take together with educators to ensure that we deliver on the promise of implementing programs that save teachers time, inform instructional decisions, and positively impact student outcomes.

In the coming weeks, you’ll hear from a few members of our Professional Services team as they explore key program implementations, unpack frequently asked questions and best practices, and recount testimonials and experiences from actual customers. Before diving into those specific stories, I wanted to share more about our commitments to you—our educator partners.

At Edmentum, we understand that implementing an effective program is much more than just purchasing a product. Rather, it’s the consulting and support you receive to optimize the technology in your unique settings that will help you bring your own blueprint to life and ensure that your investment leads to real change. At the core of what we do is a set of guiding practices and principles that lay the foundation for success.

1. Understand district goals and initiatives

At the beginning of any new implementation, we start by asking educators to define what success looks like for them. Then, we work to ensure that we align our implementation to their specific success criteria, including important big picture goals like increasing assessment scores or raising graduation rates. We also spend time discussing other key initiatives so that our implementation complements and supports the instructional vision of the district. We believe that finding and communicating the synergy between programs is essential because the last thing we want to hear from teachers is that this is just one more thing they have to do.

2. Define clear expectations for changes in practice
We also believe that we need to treat any software implementation like a change management initiative with the intent to integrate the program with instructional practices. To this end, we understand how important it is to take the time to define measurable goals for implementation and training and to communicate clear expectations for educators who will be using the program.

3. Build capabilities

A successful start and carefully thought-out plan for implementation will pave the way for success. However, in order to sustain and build the capabilities of your implementation, we know that learning can’t stop after you have set up users and deployed assessments or curricula. We will continue to partner with you beyond those initial professional learning opportunities in August to help develop your team’s know-how and confidence using our programs and implementing creative ways to leverage features and functionality in deeply personal ways.

4. Monitor ongoing progress to ensure fidelity
Just like any new habit you’re trying to form, doing something with fidelity is key to making it stick! Checking in with you along the way regarding the health of your implementation ensures that we can course correct as necessary to help your implementation grow. Our Sales and Services partners will work hand in hand with you to share insights and goals, drive meaningful conversations in support of your desired outcomes, and monitor metrics that help move the needle. Perhaps just as importantly, we will also work with you to develop your own “look for success”, with the goal of empowering you to own the success of your implementation.

5. Take time to assess and reflect

At the end of a semester, school year, or even a summer session, we believe in taking time to reflect and determine what’s next. Did we achieve the goals that we set for implementation? What lessons learned this year can make next year’s implementation more powerful? What opportunities are there to expand and deepen what you’re doing today? Asking questions like these can help you plan ahead so that each year’s program and our ongoing partnership only continue to be more and more successful.

At the center of all we do, we’re committed to putting you first. With “educator first” as our guiding principle, our commitment to supporting your unique needs and implementations resonates throughout each of our team’s daily activities here at Edmentum. In the weeks to come, I encourage you to keep checking back in with us here on the blog as we continue to share more implementation stories from our Professional Services team. We would also love to hear from you. What’s your blueprint for success this year?

Check out part 2 of this series: How Are Educators Implementing Exact Path in U.S. Schools and Districts Today?