This article discusses problems with traditional top-down methods of disseminating educational innovations to teachers and proposes a conceptual framework in which teachers share a primary role with educational researchers in the development of innovative practices. Focus is on the critical dimensions of teacher change as they participate in the…

This report describes the procedures of a systemwide testing program established by the Ottawa, Ontario, education board to evaluate high school student performance in selected courses. The project was initiated in response to a directive from trustees, who were concerned about variation of academic standards among students in relation to…

This paper synthesizes data from two studies of educational change to describe how school contextual factors influenced teacher involvement and how principals reduced those influences. The first study, involving 14 schools representing a mixture of levels and types of areas served, began in 1979 and spanned 3 school years; the second study, which…

Teachers who implement new programs have often been observed to adapt them to suit their own teaching situations. This process of adaptation raises four important issues: (1) Can teachers replicate practices developed elsewhere? (2) Can they be equally effective in doing so? (3) Must adaptation occur for implementation to succeed? and (4) Can…

This paper describes the implementation and effects of a behavior management system in eight middle schools, including control schools, in an urban school district. The components of the system included school discipline policy review and revision, computerized behavior tracking, classroom organization and management, and positive reinforcement.…