Volunteers from the International Reading Association (IRA) participated in the teacher education component of Macedonia's Secondary Education Activity, an initiative to reform vocational/technical education (VET), funded from 2004 to 2008 by USAID. Volunteers offered professional development to VET teachers using a trainer-of-trainers model,…

In this essay, the author reviews "Education Reform in New York City: Ambitious Change in the Nation's Most Complex School System," by Jennifer A. O'Day, Catherine S. Bitter, and Louis Gomez. The book under review explores a larger set of issues, and some time has passed. But many of the issues studied remain relevant and the consistent…

Among the important factors in the success of organized change efforts involving local schools are direct personal contact of local entrepreneurs and internal advocacy groups, moral and technical support of the district administration, access to interpretive information about new ideas and teaching programs, and faculty acceptance of innovation.…

Discusses strategies designed to increase the instrumental use of program evaluation findings based on experiences in Australian schools. Highlights include an evaluation plan; awareness of the evaluation; timely reporting techniques; guidelines for implementation of findings; and the role of the evaluator as change agent. (Contains 21…

A basic weakness of many national educational reports is that they focus on what is wrong with the education system and overlook how the schools can be improved. Research-based guidelines to be used in change efforts are offered. (DF)

Examining the power relationship between teachers and change agents in the case of a centrally developed and advocated innovation. The author concludes that teachers have the greater power to control or prevent school change by refusing to implement the innovation. (Author/SJL)

A review of five of their own research findings suggests (to the authors) four strategies for preparing facilitators to help implement school improvement programs. "Facilitators" are people who support teachers in implementing new classroom practices, and can include principals, district staff, or external providers of support. The five…

Discusses the use of teletraining to solve performance problems and discusses the role of the change agent in using teletraining successfully. Highlights include identifying performance problems; characteristics of teletraining; the teletraining adoption process (TAP); teletraining implementation process (TIP); and case studies at AT&T…

Discusses ways in which educational technologists can help educators accept changes in schools that are occurring through the use of technology. Characteristics of people involved in change are described; and a framework for implementing innovations is presented, including supportive organizational arrangements, training, consultation and…

A brief literature review and a report on two studies of change implementation in schools indicate that "directed development," in which experts give help directly to classroom teachers, is the most effective implementation strategy. The author's literature review traces research on program implementation from a 1975 Rand report…

A review of the general literature on diffusion, innovation, and social change is worthwhile as a basis for developing more effective methods for facilitating the adoption of computer-based technologies. Much of the research on diffusion has focused on (1) characteristics of the innovation which influence the diffusion process, (2) a description…

The results of a study of five midwestern school districts suggest that the abandonment of program innovations or revisions may be related to a lack of understanding of how schools work as social systems and how political processes influence change efforts, as well as a failure to appreciate the many dilemmas facing those who attempt to facilitate…

Reports on the lack of attention being paid by educational policymakers to leadership preparation programs and explores issues in creating better leaders with the skills to create effective learning environments. Discusses leadership skills and characteristics required for school reform, the development of better leadership preparation programs,…

Describes how action research as a model for professional development helped teachers enrolled in a graduate course at the University of Nevada Las Vegas gain insight into the process of school change and provided them with opportunities to facilitate change involving the implementation of technology in specific school contexts. (Contains 26…

Discusses the role of the school librarian as change agent with emphasis on the implementation of school library programs through the cooperative work of classroom teachers and teacher-librarians. Shared goals are discussed, the attitudes and roles of teachers are described, and implications for future research are suggested. (13 references) (LRW)