Phase the intervention through cohorts that move from development to usability/feasibility testing to efficacy testing¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The LEAD Partnership sequences its intervention work across cohorts: "Develop, implement, and refine LEAD intervention Cohorts 1 & 2 (2023/24 and 2024/25)", then "Manualize and implement LEAD intervention Cohort 3 (2025/26)", followed by "Conduct usability/feasibility testing" and finally "Conduct efficacy testing of LEAD intervention Cohort 3 (2025/26)". This staging lets the design mature before rigorous testing.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Multiple school-year cohorts must be available so development, manualization, feasibility work, and efficacy testing can each occur

Constraints¶

• Efficacy testing is scheduled only for Cohort 3 (2025/26), after earlier cohorts support development and usability/feasibility testing

Target Learners¶

• prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers
• school leaders

Target Learning Goals¶

• implementation of research-based early learning practices

Related Strategies¶

• Phased iterative testing: optimization testing before efficacy testing before statewide scale-up
• Co-develop the toolkit with districts and refine it iteratively across cohorts
• Revise professional learning materials and structure in response to pilot feedback
• Conduct a smaller sequence of rapid-cycle studies that build on one another instead of planning a single large confirmatory study

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Leading Early Childhood Achievement and Development (LEAD) Partnership. (2025). Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) partnership logic model. https://ies.ed.gov/use-work/regional-educational-laboratories-rel/southwest/partnerships/leading-early-childhood-achievement-and-development