This publication is part of a series of reports that describes the results of the first year of a study of federally funded programs designed to introduce and spread innovative practices in public schools. Over several years, the study will examine innovative educational projects funded under four federal programs, including Title III of the…

Federal policy has been unsuccessful in achieving some of its goals for several reasons, including viewing implementation as an act rather than as a process and assuming that organizations have uniform capacity and willingness to implement policy. A strategy of differential treatment that matches implementing organizations' characteristics is…

This report is one of three volumes that describe the second phase of a study that examined the implementation of four federal change agent programs related to education. Phase 2 of the study focused on what happens to local projects in the two largest change agent programs--ESEA Title III and ESEA Title VII--when federal funding stops. This…

Past federal educational policy failures can be traced to three sources. The first is unrealistic expectations about schools' capacity for social reform, about the time needed to produce significant change, and about the degree of federal leverage over local school district behavior. The second source is the misconception that improving…

This testimony summarizes the results of the Rand Corporation's change agent study of educational innovations funded by federal programs. The second section consists of policy recommendations for ESEA Title IV Consolidated Programs, Part C. The study aimed to help improve federal policies by describing how the process of innovation and educational…

Two investigations were conducted to determine whether rural school districts receive a fair share of federal education funds: a quantitative analysis of the distribution of federal funds between rural and nonrural school districts and a qualitative exploration of the special needs and disadvantages of rural school systems. The quantitative study…