Ways in which program innovators, policy developers, and educational researchers think about and engage in disseminating innovations to schools can prove a major barrier to reform. A process for effective dissemination using the coaching model in the accelerated schools program is described here. Accelerated schools draw on three principles: unity…

A private, nonprofit corporation, New American Schools (NAS) funds the development of designs aimed at transforming entire schools at the elementary and secondary levels. This report describes a large number of NAS sites in their early implementation stages. The report is the first in a series that monitors a longitudinal sample of schools…

Findings of a study that examined the relationship between superintendents' leadership styles and educational change are presented in this paper, with a focus on the implementation of the EDUCATION 2000 National Model Schools Network, a site-based school improvement and restructuring initiative of the American Forum for Global Education. The…

This paper chronicles the organizational life of two high schools in the northeastern United States as they responded to the national impetus for change. The study used a methodology employing ethnographic field study methods including field notes, interviews, and artifact collection and analysis. Riverside High pursued a locally initiated change…

This book provides diagnostic techniques for assessing the needs of school personnel involved in implementing new innovations for school improvement. Using the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) as a framework, it discusses the roles and personal needs of the people involved in the change process and provides strategies for the total management…

Attitudes of educational practitioners toward change processes associated with school improvement were assessed in a study conducted in a suburban midwestern school district. Eighty-nine teachers, principals, and instructional assistants from five schools completed questionnaires that were developed following classroom observations and interviews…

The third in a series, this report provides a brief look at the recent history of the education reform movements in 10 states. The report begins with an essay by William Chance, former executive director of the Washington State Temporary Committee on Educational Policies, Structure and Management. In an article entitled "Changing the Terms of…

This monograph contains the following essays including one written in German: (1) "Views on the Implementation of the Curriculum--Experiences of the Finnish Practice" (Pertti Kansanen); (2) "Modalization Processes in Student Biographies" (Rainer Kokemohr); (3) "Problemhafter Unterricht im Fach Physik mit dem Ziel des Auslosens schopferischen…

The current literature on implementation analysis is reviewed, with emphasis on the most recent German literature. The use of implementation analysis is also discussed as a means for analysis and prediction of higher education reforms in Germany. The implementation approach emphasizes the process of carrying out a policy and explores the reasons…

The study examined implementation of the Dean's Grant Projects which funded institutions of higher education to change their preservice teacher education programs and the capabilities of teacher education faculty to incorporate skills necessary for mainstreaming handicapped students. The Concerns-Based Adoption Model was used to investigate two…

Pressures for innovation in administration and instruction at the elementary level in Italy's public education system during the 1960s led to two major pieces of legislation mandating five basic changes. These changes involved providing cultural enrichment programs, reassessing the relationship between teaching and learning, decreasing the social…

This study describes an attempt to introduce change into an educational system. A new science program (MATAL) consisting of new teaching materials, teaching strategies and training courses--was developed and implemented in kindergarten classrooms. Major hypotheses were that (1) the kindergarten is a system; educational change will be achieved…

The consultant interested in helping teachers adopt curriculum-based assessment techniques should consider the process of innovation along with aspects of school culture. The consultant should examine four stages in developing a model program: creating a need, supporting change, implementing a guided practice, sequence, and allowing for…

Assesses major findings and recommendations of the education commission reports and discusses issues and topics that they avoid. Argues that the inadequacies of the reports derive from the defective nature of the commission process itself. Also argues that even if the commission reports had never been issued, American schools would be on the mend.…

Four ingredients critical for successful classroom innovations are described: (1) a well defined "classroom friendly" effective innovation, (2) continuous teacher support, (3) clear direction from administrators, and (4) attention to institutionalization. (MD)