Why Do This Step?
The dosage probation model requires a probation agency with deep knowledge and skill in implementing evidence-based practices (EBP). Exposure to EBP alone is insufficient. Strong, active leadership is the backbone of successful implementation and long-term success. An infrastructure that ensures fidelity and continuous quality improvement is also crucial to implementing and sustaining evidence-based policies and practices.
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Leadership Resources
Effective implementation of any new program, strategy, or practice relies on dedicated and proactive leadership. Effective change leaders possess a clear vision and offer direction, motivation, communication, resource management, oversight, and support to navigate challenges and achieve goals. Resources that provide cutting-edge information and guidance on effective implementation leadership include but are not limited to the following:
Federal Probation’s The 10 Essential Principles of Implementation Leadership: Real-World Applications of Change Leadership Acumen discusses the principles that are key to change leadership—including trusting the vision, being comfortable being uncomfortable, and savoring the journey—and that are necessary to achieve and sustain organizational change.
Alliance for Community and Justice Innovation offers many free and proprietary resources, including publications, videos, tools, and classes based on implementation science to help leaders avoid and address common challenges associated with change efforts in criminal justice settings.
A critical step in conducting your dosage probation readiness assessment is ensuring your probation agency is well-positioned to implement and sustain the dosage probation model effectively. This section guides you through assessing your probation agency's readiness for implementation.
TO DO:
- Complete the probation agency readiness assessment rating form
- Calculate your jurisdiction’s expected dosage probation population size
- Conduct a dosage probation orientation session
Complete the Readiness Assessment Rating Form for Your Probation Agency
You may begin completing the Dosage Probation Readiness Assessment: Probation Agency Rating Form (.doc) anytime. However, it is recommended that you ensure your jurisdiction has the express authority to grant early termination from probation before investing time and resources in filling out the form. The rating form consists of eight parts, each containing questions to help you assess your probation agency’s preparedness in critical implementation areas, including leadership, departmental morale and organizational culture, evidence-based practices, and data management.
As you complete the rating form, additional information-gathering steps may be necessary for a thorough and accurate assessment. For instance, you may want to assess departmental morale and organizational culture or conduct a staff survey to gain deeper insights into attitudes about or the use of EBP.
You may refer to the Evidence-Based Practices Staff Survey (.doc) if you wish to design a survey to assess current attitudes and use of EBP (aligned with the dosage probation model) among supervision staff. You must customize the [bracketed] information and may add, delete, or edit the sample survey to meet your agency’s needs. For efficiency purposes, it is recommended that you create an electronic survey that automatically populates responses into one spreadsheet and can generate analyses (e.g., Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, Smartsheet).
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Survey Resources
If you choose to conduct a survey on organizational or cultural readiness, look online for inspiration. Many organizational or cultural readiness surveys are available. For example:
The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority’s Implementation Science in Criminal Justice: How Implementation of Evidence-based Programs and Practices Affects Outcomes provides information, guidance, and tools for measuring your agency’s readiness for change and implementing new evidence-based practices.
The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse provides several implementation measurement tools that you may find useful. These tools assess areas such as change readiness, leadership, culture and climate, and program fit. While the website’s information and resources are tailored for child welfare and service organizations, they can be adapted for use in other contexts.
You may also want to complete random case file reviews to determine whether staff realistically integrate EBP into their daily work, such as administering risk/needs assessments according to policy or developing and updating case plans with the necessary components. You may also wish to observe how well staff apply EBP to their interactions with people on probation, such as using cognitive behavioral interventions, motivational interviewing, or effective responses to compliance or noncompliance.
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The Dosage Probation: Continuous Quality Improvement and Coaching Guide (.pdf) includes sample staff observation and case file auditing forms that adhere to EBP and dosage probation expectations. Your agency will be encouraged to use this guide to develop continuous quality improvement and coaching policies during the third (planning) phase of implementation.
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Have a look at the Essential Skills of the Dosage Probation Officer (.pdf) for a quick rundown of the competencies probation supervision staff must have to deliver effective dosage probation supervision. These skills are also referenced throughout the Dosage Probation Readiness Assessment: Probation Agency Rating Form.
Additionally, you may need to meet with the person(s) responsible for handling probation data or data sources (whether they are internal or external personnel) to learn more about their capacity to collect and process data—through automated or manual information systems—related to the implementation of dosage probation.
Estimate Your Dosage Probation Population Size
Agencies can benefit upfront from getting a big-picture understanding of the potential annual pool of people eligible for early discharge through dosage probation. This information may interest other system stakeholders involved in dosage probation policymaking and can help agencies prepare for implementation by informing adjustments to caseloads or workloads for all supervision staff. It can also help make future determinations about how many or what percentage of dosage hours must be delivered through one-on-one appointments, homework, in-house cognitive behavioral programs (as applicable), and community-based programs annually to ensure that people on probation can accrue dosage hours efficiently.
You may use the Dosage Probation Population Size Estimator (.xls) to make these calculations. This tool contains two spreadsheets to help you compute the characteristics and size of your current annual probation population and estimate your yearly dosage probation population. You can customize the spreadsheets to suit your needs. It would be best to revisit your calculations as implementation progresses and policy decisions that impact eligibility are made.
Prepare and Conduct Your Dosage Probation Orientation
Another step in the readiness process is to conduct a formal orientation to dosage probation for probation staff. Probation staff should have already received a preliminary introduction to dosage probation and expressed their initial support for implementation.
The orientation serves several purposes. It is an opportunity for probation staff to learn more about the dosage probation model and what to expect from the implementation process and readiness assessment. It is also an opportunity for your team to come together in one place and time to receive accurate and consistent information about dosage probation and why leadership is interested in implementing the model. It also prepares staff to engage in readiness assessment activities as may be needed, such as case file reviews or observations, as mentioned above.
Decide Whom to Invite
It is highly recommended that you invite all probation personnel to the orientation, including leadership, supervision staff regardless of caseload, intake or support staff, and others who may be responsible for in-house cognitive behavioral programming, coaching/staff development, and data collection. entry, and management. It is also recommended that agents who may supervise people on parole or supervised release, juveniles on probation, or people on pretrial release attend.
While not all attendees may currently supervise people eligible for early discharge through dosage probation, the orientation can help ensure everyone is unified in understanding and supporting your agency's vision for change. It can also make future cross-training and coaching in evidence-based practices much easier.
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Lessons Learned: Implement Dosage Probation Agencywide
An important lesson learned from the dosage probation pilot sites is that dosage probation is most effectively implemented as a probation-wide model of adult supervision for people with a moderate or higher likelihood of recidivism.
In other words, everyone on probation meeting those criteria, regardless of their eligibility for early discharge, should receive effective intervention and supervision according to the evidence-based practices on which the dosage probation model is built. Likewise, all adult probation supervision agents should deliver effective case management and intervention according to the dosage probation model, regardless of their caseload.
Establishing dosage-specific caseloads or units in the pilot sites had several unintended consequences:
- Siloed implementation created division among staff. Those carrying a dosage probation caseload felt they were subject to greater expectations and more rigorous standards of practice. In contrast, those with a non-dosage caseload felt left behind and that their counterparts were favored by leadership.
- As select staff members received specialized training and coaching in evidence-based practices, staff across the agency lacked a shared vision and language for delivering probation services.
- Dosage-specific caseloads or units created inequities in service. People assigned to a non-dosage caseload were not consistently offered, and thus could not benefit from, the same behavior-change opportunities as people assigned to a dosage caseload.
- Overall, the approach resulted in a counterproductive atmosphere among staff and leadership.
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“Early discharge may not be on the table for every client, but here’s the thing: every one of them stands to gain from the very best supervision and interventions we can give them, particularly if they fall into that medium to high-risk category. Why wouldn’t we want to give everyone the best chance to succeed?” – Nikki Niles, Director, Dodge & Olmsted Community Corrections.
Review and Customize the Orientation Materials
You may start preparing for the orientation by reviewing the Dosage Probation Orientation for Probation Staff Agenda Template (.doc). It includes the recommended meeting goals, topics, and discussion points to be covered and the time frames for each, totaling two hours. You must customize the [bracketed] information and may make further adjustments to meet the needs of your probation agency.
You may also begin by reviewing the Dosage Probation Orientation for Probation Staff Presentation Template (.ppt). The presentation follows and expands on the information in the agenda and contains suggested talking points and approaches to discussions and activities. You must customize the slides with [bracketed] information and may make further adjustments to meet the needs of your probation agency. The modifications you make to the presentation may require changes to the agenda and vice versa.
The following handouts supplement the information in the agenda and presentation: Dosage Probation: Rethinking the Structure of Probation Sentences (.pdf) , Dosage Probation: A Prescription Based on Two Pilot Sites' Experiences (.pdf) , Dosage Probation Model Fundamentals (.pdf), Dosage Probation Implementation Checklist (.pdf). Share these materials with staff to familiarize themselves with the information before the orientation.
Consider the following questions to help you complete a successful orientation. You may need to address other issues specific to your probation agency.
- Who is best suited to deliver the orientation? Does it make sense to have co-presenters? Who best represents your agency (or other entity) spearheading the readiness assessment? Who is most knowledgeable about or skilled in applying evidence-based practices? Who is most enthusiastic about or supportive of dosage probation? Who can best field concerns and questions from staff?
- If you have co-presenters, which sections will each person cover? What other responsibilities might each person have in preparing for or delivering the orientation (e.g., coordinating the orientation time and logistics, reaching out to participants, preparing materials)?
- Do you anticipate hearing specific concerns or questions from staff? If so, how do you plan to address or resolve them? How will you ease potential anxiety about the change process? If you have particularly vocal staff, what strategies will you use to dissuade them from discouraging participation or morale among other staff? If you have particularly quiet staff, how will you engage their participation to convey the collaborative team effort needed for implementation?
- How will you notify staff about the orientation to communicate its importance and ensure the best attendance?
- How will you determine the orientation's date and time to ensure the best attendance? Are there weekdays that work best for staff? Are there calendar conflicts or common staff vacation times to avoid? Do you want to "poll" staff for their availability?
- Will you record the orientation for future reference, such as for those unable to attend or to serve as a resource when onboarding new staff?
- How will those unable to attend be caught up to speed to ensure they understand and have an opportunity to share concerns or questions about dosage probation? If several staff cannot participate, does it make sense to conduct another orientation?
- Who from your agency will be the point(s) of contact to address staff members’ concerns or questions during the readiness assessment process? What other strategies might you use to ensure staff receive consistent information and messaging about dosage probation (e.g., regular staff meeting updates, email updates or reminders, FAQs)? To manage the “rumor mill”?
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Consider creating a shared electronic folder to house all dosage probation information for easy reference. A centralized location for all dosage probation materials will come in handy during implementation.