The authors take on myths and misinformation about the Common Core State Standards and seek to tell the positive ways in which the standards work to move education.

Responding to the need for game-changing innovation that will catapult student achievement, some school districts seek assistance from school development organizations that specialize in helping schools. But such work presents problems when schools try to adopt and adapt innovation and outside partners face challenges in encouraging schools to…

Over the past decade, at both the university and high school levels, chemistry instructors have become keenly aware of an increasing number of students who are proving to be unable to solve complex problems. Today's students have grown up with technology, and most would prefer to do their homework using a digital tool rather than pencil and paper.…

"Training" certainly fit the factory model of education. To others, the word conjured images of what one does to animals, getting them to sit, roll over, and play dead. Few educators now describe their learning experiences as training. The word "development" may be an improvement, but just a small one. It evokes images of what someone does to…

Recounts some of the problems confronted by a principal, who became associated with an innovation he created, when he wanted to change jobs and some of the awkwardness he felt in his job. (IRT)

Presents an analysis of sponsorship as that concept has developed since 1968 in Project Follow Through and discusses the future of the sponsorship concept. (Author/IRT)

According to the respondents (state department of education personnel), mainstreaming activities have progressed significantly since 1971, with only a relative minority, roughly one-fifth, of the districts lagging behind the others. (Author)

Presents a flow chart for turning good ideas into complete proposals before proposing them. The process involves clarifying the idea and assessing its current practicality, value for the program, compatibility with policy, implications, costs, funding sources, and implementation time requirements. (PGD)

Examines the fate of 25 innovative instructional programs implemented in 1971-73 as a result of state legislation. Arrives at seven conclusions about why some programs (seven) were still in existence eight years later and why others were not. (IRT)

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.…

Motivational factors affecting decisions to discontinue existing minicourse programs or to not consider the adoption of minicourse programs tend to be programmatic and administrative rather than philosophical. (Author/IRT)

Outlines the development and implementation of a management by objectives system in one school district. (IRT)

Reports on what researchers discovered in their study of five urban school districts that were labeled "innovative." Provides a conceptual framework that takes into account five factors that seemed critical to a district's success or failure in implementing change. (Author/IRT)

Implementation is actually a complex and continuous process of policy evolution. Thus, the implementation of a policy idea will vary because not all the policy's many potentialities will be recognized and because any given idea will be interpreted differently in different settings. (Author/IRT)

Presents nine propositions dealing with communication and implementation of innovations. For example, innovation diffusion depends on face-to-face personal contact, the teacher has very limited access to new ideas and innovations, and what is rational for the teacher may not be rational for the administrator or reformer. (Author/IRT)