ASSESS the school's readiness for the program.

- Consider the school's entire literacy program.

- Devote time to necessary professional development.

- Discuss data and program implementation during faculty meetings.

- Mark optimal launch dates on the school calendar.

FRAME the discussion as "how" to improve vocabulary instruction instead of "whether” to do so.

- Discuss the principal's role in the Word Generation program.

- Determine whether Word Generation as an intervention matches a school's needs.

- Refocus the debate among faculty—think together about how to address vocabulary rather than whether.

- Develop systems of planning, debriefing on, and revising program implementation.

ENSURE that the principal has support from another instructional leader on site.

- Emphasize the necessity of a Word Generation point person on site.

- Consider a literacy coach (or other credible team member) the ideal candidate.

- Bear in mind that the principal should not work alone.

PREPARE for skeptical responses.

- Anticipate a possible lack of “buy-in” among teachers.

- Retain the flexibility needed to listen to skeptics but still persevere.

- Use data to determine the program’s effectiveness.

- Take the important step to reach out to content teachers in areas other than English.

INTEGRATE Word Generation into other school accountability systems.

- Track evidence of teacher enthusiasm.

- Consider Word Generation an effective and meaningful alternative to test-preparation activities.

- Provide feedback on essays to add to students’ sense of accountability.