Our work with implementing FUSE Studios in over 50 locations around the country and in Helsinki has illustrated to me why Paul LeMahieu’s concept of “integrity of implementation” is the better way to think about educational innovations than “fidelity of implementation.”
Integrity of implementation means insuring that teachers and administrators truly understand the underlying goals and objectives of the innovation, whereas fidelity of implementation, in my view, devalues educators by assuming their main role is to blindly adhere to a provided curriculum or program model without regard to their local situation.