Despite some fears that small schools would have difficulty implementing the British National Curriculum, findings from 50 schools (9 with fewer than 100 students) show that small schools may provide greater opportunities for innovative curriculum and class organization and strong curricular leadership from headmasters who teach. (SK)

"Tissue rejection," rejection of an instructional innovation because of poor fit, is analyzed to demonstrate the problematic nature of appropriate information collection and the need for ethnographic "means analysis" to inform project design. Tissue rejection is attributed to informal orders within a host educational environment and communication…

Describes a long-term inservice program aimed at restructuring one elementary school's literacy program. Focuses on observed changes that occurred as teachers became active participants in staff development sessions designed around effective change principles. (SR)

Provides a synthesis of related research and literature on implementing innovation at the school and classroom levels. The key factors affecting implementation include the nature of the intended change, contextual factors of school organization, and the roles of teachers and change facilitators. Recommendations for effective practice are offered.…

The move from teaching to administration is pivotal for creating innovative leaders. The National Policy Board on Educational Administration has called for principal recruitment and preparation reforms. This article discusses the socialization processes leading to the principal's role and describes implementation, benefits, and problems of New…

Administrative support is essential for reform efforts to take place at the building and district level. This study explored barriers teachers encountered while implementing science education reform and the impact those barriers had on change in instructional practices and reform. Findings in this study reveal that support from administration is…

This paper offers a case history of one university academic department's experience with the pressure to create online scholarship opportunities for professional educators. As tertiary education transforms its course delivery to Web-based learning management platforms, instructors are challenged to transform career-long practice suddenly and…

The d'Arbeloff Interactive Mathematics Project or d'AIMP is an initiative that seeks to enhance and ultimately transform the teaching and learning of introductory mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A result of this project is a suite of "mathlets," a carefully developed set of dynamic computer applets for use in the…

In 2003, the School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Japan, established the e-School, Japan's first complete undergraduate correspondence courses enabling students to acquire their bachelor degrees solely through e-learning. Supported by the widespread availability of high-speed Internet connections, it has become possible to transmit…

A pilot project, entitled Project Senior, was developed and implemented to provide innovative educational programing for older adults in the small rural setting of Thermopolis, Wyoming. Included among the major project activities were the following: a door-to-door survey of 759 persons over 55 years old to determine those courses most desired by…

This report is organized to provide a complete, logical presentation of the major steps taken in the third phase of research on dynamics of dissemination of the Instructional Support System for Occupational Education (ISSOE). It reports on the confirmation and validation of the Phase II Final Report on Dissemination Issues and the Phase III…

In 1988, two metropolitan and four country schools (two of which were remote) in Australia received federal grants to implement technology education. This paper presents the outcomes of the six schools' attempts to implement curriculum innovations associated with technology education and interprets those outcomes in the context of a school-based…

Findings of a study that examined the progress of three Indiana schools (Beech Grove Senior High School, Indianapolis; Linton-Stockton Elementary School, southwestern Indiana; and Richmond High School) toward educational innovation goals under the 21st Century Schools Pilot Project are presented in this paper. Each school is described in terms of…

Although schools have served as a major target of both educational and mental-health oriented interventions, they have shown a marked tendency to assimilate innovative programs into existing patterns. This paper analyzes the sources and manifestations of resistance to change in schools and discusses the implications of such resistance for the…

The study reported in this document was conducted to identify, describe, and assess the potential of innovative approaches to integrating vocational and academic education as one way of helping students to understand the utility of academic learning. Research activities included case studies of five integrated-curriculum programs in California,…