About i3/EIR and EdScale
EdScale has been providing technical assistance (TA) to i3 and EIR grantees for almost eight years (including some time Tom supported the work at the Education Delivery Institute (EDI)).
Throughout this time, we have led technical assistance in scaling up and sustainability with full-day workshops, resource development, white papers, one-on-one coaching and planning sessions, and facilitating a community of practice with an emphasis on implementation. The workshop and training series topics have included Needs Assessment, Scaling Up and Sustainability Rubric, Strategic Planning, What Works in Scaling up and Sustainability, Rapid Prototyping, Financial Sustainability, and Progress Monitoring Routines. EdScale has more recently led the development and facilitation of Dissemination workshops with grantees to support their scaling up, sustainability, and sharing of research findings and lessons to inform the field (partnered with bestselling author Namrata Patel).
This work has been done in partnership with incredible i3 and EIR grantees, as well as with technical assistance partners at Westat, EDC, MSG, and currently with Anlar.
Results
i3/EIR investments in education research innovations are WILDLY successful. I’m thankful for the expertise and perspective shared below by Beth Boulay, the lead researcher for i3/EIR throughout the program.
“A 26% success rate in education innovation — in a complex field in which breakthroughs are rare and challenges abound — arguably far outpaces those in other industries and federal R&D investments. For example, the success rate in clinical trials for new drugs is just under 8%, and some 85% to 90% of DARPA projects fail to meet their objectives. By those two measures, investment in i3 seems like a very successful federal R&D effort.”
See my post on LinkedIn and read Beth’s full article in The 74 here.
Resources
Below are a few highlights of resources developed to support grantees in Scaling Up and Sustainability. We hope they might be helpful in your work across the country to scale up and sustain what is getting better results for students.
- Got Results? Moving Up EIR Funding Tiers: Lessons From Current Grantees. (August 2024). The EIR Program provides funding to support the scaling of evidence-based education innovations. The EIR funding tiers and the grants’ requirements provide valuable structures to support sustainable scaling – scaling that addresses spread to new sites, consequential change in classroom practice, sustainability, and a shift of ownership from the grantee to districts, schools, and teachers. The grantees featured in this paper have developed scaling strategies that are getting results at scale that can be applied to other scaling contexts and contribute to our understanding of practices that support the scaling of educational innovations.
- EIR Grantastic podcast series highlighting grantee practices on scaling up and sustainability. Listen and subscribe here. (first scaling up episodes coming mid-September 2004)
- EIR Dissemination Planning Toolkit. Based on in-person workshops hosted for all EIR grantees, explore your dissemination goals and practices, applying frameworks and approaches to build a dissemination plan to meet your project or organization goals.
- EIR Scaling Up and Sustainability Training Series (SY2324). Scaling your EIR grant project and creating a sustainable program are complex tasks that require substantial planning and strategizing. Through a 6-part webinar series led by Tom DeWire (EdScale, LLC), we offer you frameworks and strategies that you can use to create or bolster your approaches to scaling and sustaining your innovative program. Click here to watch the series and explore the resources to unlock your pathway to scaling and sustainability in education. Website. YouTube.
- EIR Scaling Up and Sustainability Training Series (SY2425). Tom hosts this 3-part series on scaling & sustainability, with each session highlighting a critical component of successful scaling strategies and sustainability approaches. These sessions will be helpful to all levels of grantees, especially those in early and mid-phase grants.
- White Papers & Toolkits.
- i3/EIR Dissemination Scale Up and Sustainability Toolkit (Updated July 2019). The EIR Dissemination Scale Up and Sustainability Toolkit supports and shares learnings from grantees in navigating the process of scaling up and sustaining impactful work. It was created as part of technical support tools and workshops provided to i3 and EIR grantees. Review it here.
- Financial Sustainability: Earned, not Given (May 2019). This white paper explores some of the research and lessons learned about financial sustainability by drawing from the government, social, and business sectors. Our research scan and review of case studies from two i3/EIR organizations pursuing this work revealed a truth about financial sustainability that is well articulated by the CEO of the Children’s Literacy Initiative, a 2016 Scale-Up i3 grantee and 2018 EIR Early-Phase grantee: financial sustainability is “earned, not given.” Review it here.
- Scaling Up Evidence-Based Practices. Strategies from Investing in Innovation: Lessons learned from nine i3 grantees that served over 1.5 million students (January 2017). Nine i3 grant award recipients shared reflections on their experiences in scaling up interventions and provided advice to others trying to grow proven education practices. Review it here.
- i3/EIR: 1-4-5 Scaling Up Podcast. Listen to i3/EIR grantees about their innovation and results, asking them four questions in under five minutes. Website.
