Reflection 3: Implementation Plan

I would like to study the Dallas Independent School District’s  implementation of READ 180, a reading intervention system with accompanying software. Dallas ISD purchased READ for $5 million, but for the fall 2022 semester, only two high schools in the district had implemented the program into their English Language Arts and Reading curriculum despite a requirement that art least one ELAR teacher had to attend READ 180 training programs at DISD headquarters.. Consequently, the superintendent required every high school in the district to implement the program for the following semester, spring 2023. 

The reason for this choice is that as a first-year English II teacher at Sunset High School in Dallas, I was suddenly reassigned to be the READ 180 teacher after the start of the spring semester. It was an unexpected change that made no sense to me then, and still doesn’t now. The entire semester was chaos in that class, in the English department at large, and at Sunset in general. The READ 180 program has a stellar reputation nationwide, but it is specific to a granular level, so if a school cannot commit to loyal delivery, it will not work. I was given access to the software, some student workbooks, and a coach from HMH, the READ 180 publisher. It was chaos on so many levels. When I returned to Sunset after summer vacation, I expected to teach READ 180 with improved conditions, but was told that Dallas ISD had made it optional again, so Sunset had scrapped it. 

Data would be collected through a survey instrument and qualitative interviews. The survey instrument would go to READ 180 teachers in Dallas ISD within the 2022-23 academic year. The interviews would be with a subgroup of those teachers. 

Activity Theory is a perfect fit for this implementation, because  there were many factors contributing to READ 180’s brief life at Sunset High. There were external expectations for the classroom that weren’t met, a lack of interest from the administration, and a $5,000 bonus for teaching it that caused a seasoned teacher to campaign for the assignment. It also seems that Dallas ISD adopts a different reading intervention each year, promoting the latest one as the Hail Mary pass that will save its students, if not from illiteracy, then failing STAARs scores. 

There are not existing measurable outcomes for a district-focused implementation across all grades, but there are many studies of READ 180. The success rate is high when the rules/recommendations are followed, However, the success rate is highest for elementary students, and I know from firsthand experience that the program did not provide an adequate stable of materials to keep urban high school freshmen engaged. Nonetheless, the program was not given a chance to succeed, and that began with a gallery of implementation failures.