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Session 5. Deciding and Sharing: Adopt, Adapt or Drop
Objective. Spot fads and myths, use a five-check protocol to decide adopt, adapt, drop or park, and share what you found with colleagues in an honest one-page note and a respectful conversation.
At the end of a trial or a conversation about a new programme, someone has to decide, and then someone has to tell colleagues. Many good ideas die because the decision was vague or the telling was clumsy. This lesson builds on the five checks and four decisions: it explains how to tell whether a poor result is the fault of the idea or of how it was delivered, how to adapt without drifting, and how to share in a way that helps colleagues to act and does not just inform them.
Key ideas
Warning signs of a fad
- Promises large gains for every pupil, every subject; one idea fixes everything; a catchy label ('brain-based', 'super-learning') but no clear description of what the teacher does.
- Proof is testimonials, not comparisons; needs a purchase; calls doubters old-fashioned; quotes exact percentages with no source.
- Fads are not always foolish; they often start from a real idea that was stretched too far. Ask what the real idea is.
Myths to retire kindly
- Learning styles: preferences exist, but reviews found no good evidence that teaching to a pupil's 'style' helps learning (Pashler and colleagues; Willingham). Teach the method that suits the content, for all pupils.
- Posters with exact 'we remember X% of what we read' numbers usually have no traceable source. Ask for the study.
- Even respected summaries deserve questions: a 2024 article in the Chartered College's journal found some famous classroom principles rest on old or hard-to-trace sources. Respect the idea, check the base.
A simple decision protocol: five checks, four decisions
- Five checks: NEED (is it a real problem for us?), OUTSIDE evidence (what do good sources say?), INSIDE evidence (what did our small trial show?), COST (minutes, money, effort), FIT and RISK (our pupils, our rules, who could lose out).
- Four decisions: ADOPT (keep as it is), ADAPT (change one named part, then re-check), DROP (stop, and stop feeling bad about it), PARK (not enough evidence yet; say what we need and by when).
- Write the decision on a one-page record with a review date. Dropping a good idea done badly is a mistake: check whether it was carried out as planned before you drop it.
Sharing with colleagues
- A one-page evidence note: Question; What we tried; What we saw, in plain words; How sure we are and why; What we suggest; What we still do not know. Ten minutes at a methodical association or staff meeting is enough.
- Share the result, including 'no difference', and thank the pupils and colleagues who made it possible (without names of children).
- Change minds by conversation, not by correction: Ask, Share, Wonder. 'Can I show you what I found? Here is what we saw. I wonder what you see in your class.' Offer to help a colleague try it, not to tell them what to do.
Five checks to one decision
Idea or delivery?
Before you drop something, ask whether it was carried out as planned. Did every teacher do the routine, for the full time, with the right materials? The J-PAL summary of Teaching at the Right Level notes that results appeared when the approach was implemented systematically, and that giving teachers training or materials alone did not bring them. So 'it did not work for us' can mean the idea failed or the delivery failed, and the two need different decisions.
If delivery was patchy, the decision is usually ADAPT or PARK: fix the named obstacle (time, materials, training) and try again. If it was carried out well and still gave nothing, DROP is a fair decision, and it frees time. Write which of the two you believe and why.
Sharing so colleagues can act
EEF guidance on professional development stresses that learning sticks when it has clear goals, gives feedback and revisits ideas over time. Apply this to sharing. A single talk rarely changes practice. Offer instead a short sequence: a ten-minute note, a two-week try by two colleagues with your help, and a short review where everyone reports what they saw. Give each person one specific thing to do.
Be generous with limits and credit. Say how sure you are and what you do not know. Thank the pupils and the colleagues who helped, without names of children. Invite challenge: 'What did we miss?'. This is not weakness; it is what makes the next person willing to try, and it protects the school from a result that was a coincidence.
Examples from the classroom
Questions for a seller
Scene. A company visits a school in Tashkent offering a 'brain-based' kit. Dilnoza, the deputy head's adviser, prepares five questions: which studies, who ran them, compared with what, what did pupils learn, and how is it measured? The seller cannot answer the second and third. Dilnoza writes the decision as PARK with a note: 'Ask again if the seller provides independent evidence'. The deputy head thanks her for the calm tone.
Insight. Calm, specific questions make PARK a respectable decision.
Adapting a named part
Scene. Malika's pair-explaining trial gave a small positive signal, but one teacher with 38 pupils could not run it. The decision is ADAPT. The named part is the set-up: a routine card on each desk, pairs fixed for a week and a 5-minute version. The team agrees to re-check in the next unit using the same short test, and sets a review date. Everyone knows what is changed and what is kept.
Insight. ADAPT works when you name the part to change and keep the rest the same.
A note that gets a colleague trying
Scene. Aziz presents a one-page note to the methodical association in Bukhara: the question, what was tried, what was seen, how sure he is and what he does not know. He asks two colleagues to try the routine for two weeks and offers a shared planning slot. One of them says afterwards that it was the first time she had a clear first step. Another challenges the measure and improves the plan.
Insight. A short honest note with one concrete request leads to action and to better evidence.
Common pitfalls
- Dropping an idea without checking whether it was delivered as planned.
- Writing 'adapt' without naming which part will change.
- Presenting a small result as bigger than it was, to win agreement.
- Correcting a colleague in public instead of offering to look at the evidence together.
Decide, Record, Share
- Trios (15 min). Open the Activity Kit: Part A is a SAMPLE advert for a learning-styles programme. Find the warning signs, then write what the real idea underneath might be and what you would ask the seller.
- Part B is a SAMPLE trial summary from Malika's school. Apply the five checks and fill the decision record: adopt, adapt, drop or park, with a review date (20 min).
- Second activity (20 min). Write a one-page evidence note on Part B for the school's methodical association. Then role-play in trios (Teacher A, Colleague B who loves learning styles, Observer C) using Ask, Share, Wonder for 5 minutes; rotate roles.
- Whole group (10 min): what made the conversation feel safe? What would you say differently on Monday?
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which decision was hardest: drop, adapt or park? Why?
- What helped the observer notice respect in the conversation?
- Which part of your note would a busy head of studies read first?
Reflect
- What is one practice you will stop doing, or ask your school to stop, because of what you learned here?
- Who in your school would be a good partner for a regular evidence conversation?
- Next course: 11.5 Classroom Research. What question from this course would you like to investigate more deeply?
Try it tomorrow
- Write a one-line answer to each of the five checks for one idea in your school.
- Draft the one-page evidence note for your mini trial and read it aloud to a colleague.
- Pick one colleague and use Ask, Share, Wonder to start a conversation about an idea you have doubts about.
Further reading and links
Check the five things, choose adopt, adapt, drop or park, write it down with a review date, and share honestly and kindly.