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Picture this: You're excited to bring project-based learning to your school. Your teachers say they're experienced with PBL, and you're ready to dive into advanced implementation strategies.

Sounds promising, right?

But here's what we recently discovered at one school: While leaders believed most of their teachers were PBL-savvy, a simple needs assessment revealed that less than half had actually used project-based instruction in their classrooms. This gap between perception and reality could have derailed their entire implementation.

This episode explores why understanding your actual starting point is crucial for PBL success. I’m sharing the exact process we use with our partner schools to ensure project-based initiatives don't just start strong – they stick.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• The six essential steps to create an effective needs assessment survey
• Why sending surveys 3 weeks before training is the sweet spot for success
• Ways to evaluate both novice and experienced PBL practitioners
• How to use assessment data to get genuine teacher buy-in

P.S. Have you taken the Impactful PBL Readiness Assessment yet? It's a great resource for instructional leaders like you who want to make informed decisions about implementing or strengthening PBL in their schools.
Get Your Free Assessment Now >>

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Thank you for listening! If you find this podcast useful and would like to support the show, please rate, review, and follow using your favorite podcasting app. Sharing is caring. When you leave a review, you are helping fellow educators find this podcast, enabling them to design impactful project-based learning experiences for their students.

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If you have been following the sustainable PBL series, you now understand that building a sustainable, high-impact, project-based culture is challenging and rewarding. School or district leaders encounter three primary roadblocks when launching a project-based learning (PBL) initiative: lack of clarity, lack of competence, and lack of capacity. In episodes 2-5, we explored the importance of overcoming these roadblocks and how to overcome them. If you skipped those episodes, I highly recommend you listen to them.

The success of project-based learning initiatives depends on initial implementation and teachers' sustaining project-based instructional practices over time. Instructional leaders play a crucial role in this process by creating the enabling conditions for teachers.

While exploring the three major roadblocks is beneficial, we must also address some common misconceptions about implementing project-based learning. These misconceptions can prevent you from starting PBL in your school or cause major setbacks to your progress (for those implementing PBL now), so let's address them.

In this episode, we will explore:

• Misconception 1: PBL doesn't require ongoing support
• Misconception 2: PBL isn't practical
• Misconception 3: PBL is too complicated
• Misconception 4: PBL is ineffective
• Misconception 5: PBL conflicts with other initiatives

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you find this podcast useful and would like to support the show, please rate, review, and follow using your favorite podcasting app. Sharing is caring. When you leave a review, you are helping fellow educators find this podcast, enabling them to design impactful project-based learning experiences for their students.

Do you have a topic to suggest or insight to share? Text me.

The success of project-based learning initiatives depends on initial implementation efforts and teachers’ ability to sustain project-based instructional practices over time. Instructional leaders play a crucial role in this process by creating the conditions necessary to enhance teachers' ability to enact the core practices of project-based instruction. The challenge is figuring out how to foster the conditions for launching a successful project-based learning initiative and then how to maintain this effort beyond one school year.

In this episode, we will explore three tools to guide instructional leaders through planning their capacity-building efforts.

1. Impactful Projects Readiness Assessment: a self-reflection tool to help instructional leaders identify progress and growth areas so they can craft an action plan to foster a high-impact, sustainable PBL initiative at their school
2. Impactful Projects Success Path: a rubric describing the phases of a project-based learning initiative and the conditions necessary to achieve each level
3. Impactful Projects Success Map: a planning guide to help instructional leaders begin taking action toward the next implementation phase

Resource: Take the Impactful Projects Readiness Assessment and receive the accompanying resources mentioned above.

Support the show

Thank you for listening! If you find this podcast useful and would like to support the show, please rate, review, and follow using your favorite podcasting app. Sharing is caring. When you leave a review, you are helping fellow educators find this podcast, enabling them to design impactful project-based learning experiences for their students.