The paper describes program initiatives undertaken during the 1984-85 school year by a rural educational cooperative, the Cayuga-Onondaga Board of Cooperative Educational Services (New York State), in an effort to bridge the gap between "current best practices" and local educational program opportunities for 110 school-aged students with moderate, severe, and profound handicapping conditions. Initiatives included placing 95 of the students in programs located within chronologically age-appropriate integrated schools, placing most students in heterogeneously grouped classes, developing a system-wide functional curriculum, increasing amounts of small group community-based training, integrating programmatically related services (such as occupational or physical therapy), and initiating a longitudinal community-based vocational preparation program. Eight major factors facilitating change are identified and include the need for: catalysts for change; a clearly stated philosophical position; short, medium, and long range plans; persistence; and ongoing staff development. (DB)