In 2012 the Connections Project began working with cohorts of schools across an entire school year to help them with all processes involved in implementing the Connections Screener. We worked with 3-5 schools each year and supported them by:

• providing them with all connections screener materials and resources to better understand the importance of connectedness; 
• explicitly describing ways to build buy-in;
• providing examples of successful implementation practices;
• providing data tools and support to collect and analyze connections data;
• sharing ideas for next steps once the data was analyzed; and,
• holding on-line meetings throughout a school year to provide guidance through each step of the connections screening process. 

While working with multiple schools across several years, we learned some critical lessons.

What we've found:	Successful schools:	Lessons Learned:
Establishing buy-in is essential It sounds easier than it is Communication with staff and students is essential We'll say it again - BUY-IN IS KEY!	Have a functioning MTSS (or problem-solving) team Have a primary point of contact to work through details Set up the infrastructure to support screener administration and follow-up data interpretation Look at their data immediately after screener administration and from year to year Started small (one grade level) before scaling up Started with buy-in first	Survey administration is relatively easy; however,  follow up and data interpretation is key Schools focusing only on survey administration (not follow up and team process) abandon the screener Lack of problem-solving team participation makes it overwhelming for one person to implement/sustain Lack of infrastructure = lack of success Start small - too much too soon can be overwhelming! Lack of communication to faculty = no sustainability

You will learn more about evidence-based implementation practices further in this section of the course.