Abstract Background Every year, significant effort and resources are expended around the world to develop innovative instructional strategies and materials to improve undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics education. Despite convincing evidence of efficacy with respect to student learning, most will struggle to become successfully propagated to reach widespread use. To help developers improve their propagation plans and to encourage sustained adoption, we have developed an assessment instrument that supports development, analysis, evaluation, and refinement of propagation plans. Results Based on our synthesis of the literature, our analysis of successfully propagated innovations, and our analysis of a subset of funded NSF CCLI proposals, we argue that a primary reason for the lack of adoption is that developers focus their efforts on dissemination (spreading the word) instead of propagation (promoting successful adoption). To help developers focus on development of more effective propagation plans, the Designing for Sustained Adoption Assessment Instrument (DSAAI) is based on three primary bodies of literature: (1) change theory, (2) instructional systems, and (3) effective propagation strategies. The assessment instrument was designed in the form of a rubric to help education developers identify strengths and areas for improvement of their propagation plans. Based on extensive testing across several different groups of users, the DSAAI is divided into four main sections: identification of product type, features of target instructional strategies and/or materials, a propagation activities checklist, and aspects of the propagation plans that influence likelihood of successful propagation. Conclusions The instrument has proven useful for a variety of audiences to evaluate and improve proposals and current research projects. Education developers who provided feedback during the development of this assessment instrument found it useful because it helped them not only evaluate their propagation plans but also become aware of other strategies they could use to help develop and disseminate products of current projects, as well as strategies for supporting future adopters. Grant writing consultants can use it to provide feedback to their clients, and funding agencies can use parts of the DSAAI framework to evaluate grant proposals.