Battling Initiative Fatigue

Our View

New initiatives are part of the school year for every educator. So, inevitably, is initiative fatigue. During the pandemic, that fatigue has compounded to unimaginable levels.

Initiative fatigue is a simple concept. When multiple changes are rolled out simultaneously or in rapid succession in K-12 education, there is little time and brainpower to properly process and put them in place.

Both of us have worked with teachers who’ve been tasked with implementing new science standards, piloting a new math program and using a new data warehouse to track progress of every student all in the same year. The rapid churn of well-intended initiatives has led to confusion about goals and expectations. The pace of change precluded results.