Getting literacy implementation right

I have taught and led in schools for over a decade, learning valuable lessons about implementation (sometimes the hard way!)

Now, having had the privilege of working with hundreds of schools implementing a multi-faceted literacy solution, I can really see that no matter how great an idea or intervention might seem, success hinges on how well it works in practice. Whenever I speak with senior leaders, middle leaders, and teachers, I focus on making very tangible connections between theory and practice.

After all, the big question is always: what does this look like on a rainy Monday morning, at the end of term, when everyone is exhausted?

Implementation - not least when it comes to literacy interventions - is about clarity and simplicity. It’s about ensuring that one core vision - like the lettering in a stick of rock - runs through everything, from theory to planning to practice. By focusing on clear active ingredients and balancing fidelity with flexibility, we can ensure that interventions don’t just work in theory, but in the realities of busy, complex school environments.

At the heart of any successful literacy implementation—or any intervention—are three essential questions (we’ve unpacked this more in our recent podcast with Mark Miller):

1. What are we addressing?

What is the issue or challenge that needs solving? For example, are you tackling widening vocabulary gaps, improving reading fluency, or increasing engagement with challenging texts?

1. Why are we addressing it?

Why have you chosen this particular intervention? What is the ideology or driving force behind the decision? How does it align with the values and goals of your school? How will colleagues, parents and pupils be involved with this narrative? Our animation here is a really useful starting point for schools!

1. How will it work in practice?

What will the intervention look like day-to-day? How will it fit into classroom routines? How will you measure its success? And crucially, how can you ensure it delivers results even on those rainy Monday mornings?

To ensure an intervention is both effective and sustainable, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) recommends knowing our active ingredients.

Active ingredients are the key principles, behaviours, and practices that make an intervention effective. Essentially, they are the "non-negotiables" that need to be applied consistently to achieve the desired outcomes. In our case:

For Bedrock, an active ingredient may be colleagues using the platform’s insights to inform their classroom practice in a scalable way (see below).

Another might involve consistent mechanisms whereby our tier 2 word trends are readily available to use in the classroom (see below).

One that I find especially useful is for Bedrock leads to monitor the Class engagement report every week to identify pockets of low engagement.

Alongside active ingredients, fidelity plays a critical role in implementation.

Fidelity refers to implementing the intervention as intended, staying true to its design and purpose. Think of fidelity as following a recipe—if key ingredients or steps are missed, the results are unlikely to match expectations. Notably, fidelity doesn’t mean rigidity. There’s room for thoughtful adaptations, but only once the active ingredients are securely understood and implemented. This balance ensures that interventions remain effective while being tailored to your school's specific needs.

One of the most important aspects of implementation is knowing where to be “tight” and where to be “loose.” The EEF emphasises that while some elements of an intervention require strict fidelity (tight), others can and should be adapted to suit the local context (loose).

Take a literacy intervention like Bedrock Vocabulary as an example:

• Tight: Ensure that vocabulary instruction is embedded across the curriculum; students are consistently encouraged and made accountable for engaging with their personalised curricula. Data insights should be used regularly to inform teaching.
• Loose: Allow teachers to adapt their use of data insights to meet the specific needs of their students.

Amongst all my conversations with schools, this balancing act is often where the implementation can fall down in terms of sustainability. Ultimately, though, by balancing consistency with flexibility, schools can ensure that the core vision of the intervention is maintained while allowing staff to adapt and innovate to meet the unique challenges of their classrooms.

When I look at the common threads that run through our most successful implementations, it’s where the balance between fidelity and active ingredients is at its clearest. This graphic neatly captures the balance between core Active Ingredients:

• Celebration
• Support
• Pedagogy

At the heart of this framework is a clear, shared vision of what success looks like and surrounding this vision are three key components:

1. Support: How do we empower colleagues to feel confident and capable throughout the implementation process? How do we regularly check in and support pupils to engage with their personalised literacy curriculum?
2. Celebration: How do we recognise and celebrate success at every level—classrooms, year groups, and whole schools? How does this move beyond compliance and into celebrating tangible impacts such as progress and learning?
3. Pedagogy: How do we ensure that the implementation augments and enhances teaching and learning in a meaningful way?

For example, when implementing Bedrock Vocabulary, success isn’t just about students engaging with the platform. It’s about ensuring that its insights are effectively shared with teachers, that progress is communicated to parents, and that successes—whether big or small—are celebrated. This framework ensures that literacy interventions move beyond theory, creating tangible improvements in both teaching and learning.

Note also the ‘review and evaluate’ component; it’s critical that we agree upon successful outcomes that move beyond compliance and into deep, meaningful impact. We produce impact reports and correlations against reading assessments too:

When it comes to any implementation, success isn’t just about what works in theory. It has to be about ensuring that it delivers results on a practical level—on a rainy Monday morning, when everyone is tired, and the term feels endless.

By anchoring your implementation in clearly defined active ingredients, maintaining fidelity where it matters, and allowing thoughtful flexibility, we can create a process that works—not just in theory, but in the realities of busy school life.