CBAM

Many education leaders have adopted a new reform or initiative with high hopes, only to see it produce few results. Successfully implementing a new program involves more than providing staff with materials, resources, and training. An often overlooked factor is the human element—the people actually doing the work. Each person will respond to a new program with unique attitudes and beliefs, and each person will use a new program differently.

The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) is a conceptual framework that provides tools and techniques for facilitating and assessing the implementation of new innovations or reform initiatives. The underlying premise of CBAM is implementing a new initiative requires more than the provision of materials, resources, and training; it requires the understanding that each person involved will respond to the new initiative with unique attitudes and beliefs. Moreover, each person will use a new program differently.

The three diagnostic dimensions of CBAM provide tools and techniques that enable leaders to gauge staff concerns and program use in order to give each person the necessary supports to ensure success..