This paper examines adoption statistics from 1969 through 1975 and suggests that two factors contribute to the decline in the number of children adopted during the 1970s: (1) the increased availability of abortion, and (2) the growing propensity of unwed mothers to keep their children. Changes in the pattern of all adoptions, in the number of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the implementation experience on an educational innovation. The topic suggests that users impact innovations just as innovations impact the user. The study's paradigm for implementation has three components--program specifications, the procedures specified for the innovation; user…

This study examines a representative sample of innovative projects funded under Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in an effort to identify some of the factors that contribute to constructive change in the schools. In particular, the study investigates local takeover of Title III programs and attempts to determine why some…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the outcomes of placing black and mixed-race children with white couples for adoption. The two more specific objectives were to: a) identify the specific satisfactions derived and difficulties encountered by white parents who adopted a black child; and b) assess the overall outcomes of white…

Participants in a National Seminar on the Diffusion of New Instructional Materials and Practices included scientists and educators in the natural and social sciences and mathematics from universities, curriculum projects, and school districts throughout the United States. This document is the first of a series of working papers which were…

In this issue, the Consortium on Early Childbearing and Childrearing, a federally funded research utilization and information sharing project, reports on recent conferences, workshops, and publications pertaining to the problems of young parenthood. The Consortium is directed principally toward helping communities initiate and improve health and…

This report deals with the developmental history of the Intermediate Science Curriculum Study (ISCS). Description of the project and its origins as well as summative evaluation are briefly discussed. Diffusion of the project and subsequent adoption are treated and its future potential evaluated. (CP)

Two experiments were conducted to test predictions made for attitude change interactions between the source-message orientation of recipients of a persuasive communication and various components of interpersonal and mass media communication situations. In Study 1, it was predicted that the presence of the source or the anticipation of discussing…

A study was conducted to determine the relationships between Grade A dairy producers' milk production levels and size of herd and their use of 21 milk production practices recommended by the University of Tennessee. The population consisted of 405 Grade A dairymen in 42 Tennessee counties. The extension agent in each county interviewed 10 or more…

Elementary teachers are often unwilling to implement new innovations in their school programs. This research study attempts to explore, through the use of simulation, why this reluctance occurs and to identify relationships of specific variables of teachers' expressed willingness to adopt innovations. Four samples of elementary classroom teachers,…

As an arm of the National Diffusion Network, the Pennsylvania State Facilitator's responsibilities include informing the schools about Title III approved programs and aiding in the actual adoption of such programs by school districts. Two aspects of the facilitator's role were identified for evaluation: (1) whether the facilitator had implemented…

This is a follow-up study of an extensive three-year investigation of variables responsible for school district adoption of innovative programs. The follow-up study was designed to provide new data and strategies relating to 1) the extent to which those programs originally adopted have survived, 2) the extent to which state or federal agency…

According to this research, an individual's centrality, as measured by peer group status, seems to be a better predictor of innovation adoption than attitudinal, demographic, professional, and scholarly productivity variables. (Author/DE)

Despite its phenomenal success at disseminating information on endorsed innovative programs, the National Diffusion Network's interstate activities will be severely limited unless a new source of funding is found. (Author/IRT)

Describes Ohio's efforts (including supplemental state legislation) to implement the new federal legislation on handicapped children and points out implications this legislation may have for all education in the areas of parental involvement and individualization of instruction. (IRT)