The exploration team is expected to assemble a portfolio, comprising student work and surveys of parents, teachers, and students, to determine priorities and a strategy for reform. These goals should reflect district, pathway, and school goals. According to the developers, these usually include improving student performance on assessments and achieving higher grades. The implementation process takes at least three years. Schools that need more time to fully implement the approach may need to seek additional funding support from grants or other sources.
Studies show that implementation differed across components of the approach.
Some components, such as establishing and conducting faculty study groups and setting up a school leadership team, were implemented early in the process. Less straightforward changes, such as transferring decision-making responsibility to the school leadership team, generally occurred later or not at all. Some aspects, especially changes in instruction, were well implemented at some schools and unevenly implemented at others. According to the developers, research on implementation has been used to improve new replications of the approach. There is an additional cost for these services.