F or the past several decades, con- siderable scientific and policy interest and research activity have focused on developing evi- dence-based practices and pro- grams, evidence-informed practices and programs, and other innovations intended to pro- duce better outcomes for exceptional children. Past and current efforts to diffuse, translate, transport, disseminate, mandate, incentivize, and otherwise close the “science-to-service gap” have not been successful in getting the growing list of evidence-based programs routinely into practice. D. L. Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, Friedman, and Wal- lace (2005) defined evidence-based programs as collections of practices that are done within known parameters (philosophy, values, ser- vice delivery structure, and treatment com- ponents) and with accountability to the con- sumers and funders of those practices. … Such programs, for example, may seek to in- tegrate a number of intervention practices (e.g., social skills training, behavioral parent training, cognitive behavior therapy) within a specific service delivery setting (e.g., office- based, family-based, foster home, group home, classroom) and organizational context (e.g., hospital, school, not-for-profit com- munity agency, business) for a given popula- tion (e.g., children with severe emotional disturbances, adults with co-occurring disor- ders, children at risk of developing severe conduct disorders). (p. 26) In an extensive review of the diffusion and dissemination literature, Greenhalgh, Robert, 213 Exceptional Children Vol. 79, No. 2, pp. 213-230. ©2013 Council for Exceptional Children. Statewide Implementation of Evidence-Based Programs DEAN FIXSEN KAREN BLASE ALLISON METZ MELISSA VAN DYKE University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ABSTRACT: Evidence-based programs will be useful to the extent they produce benefits to individu- als on a socially significant scale. It appears the combination of effective programs and effective im- plementation methods is required to assure consistent uses of programs and reliable benefits to children and families. To date, focus has been placed primarily on generating evidence and deter- mining degrees of rigor required to qualify practices and programs as “evidence-based.”To be useful to society, the focus needs to shift to defining “programs” and to developing state-level infrastruc- tures for statewide implementation of evidence-based programs and other innovations in human services. In this article, the authors explicate a framework for accomplishing these goals and discuss examples of the framework in use. Exceptional Children