This paper delineates the purposes of a symposium that was based on a major study of the California School Improvement Program (SIP). The problem of increasing the capacity of schools to implement reform efforts is conceptualized. To explore this issue, a conceptual framework was developed, based on the case study and survey data from the first…

Preliminary findings of a study that identified characteristics of federally funded change agent programs are presented in this paper. The study examined four federal change agent programs: Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title III, Innovative Projects; ESEA Title VII, Bilingual Projects; Vocational Education Act, Part D, Exemplary…

Besides identifying current problems in educational change research, this document describes the inadequate paradigm on which past research has been based and outlines a currently emerging paradigm of educational innovation. The author asserts that previous research findings have been inconsistent and not comparable. Basic to the research problems…

The results relating to staff development, contained in a Rand Corporation survey on change agents, are summarized in this paper. The researchers discovered that successful staff development program implementation was characterized by three major components: local materials development, online planning, and concrete, ongoing training. Their…

Self-conscious federal efforts to promote innovation in local educational practices have resulted in little consistent or identifiable improvement in student outcomes. Although such student outcomes may be disappointing, they do not accurately reflect the potential of innovative ideas because many innovations are not implemented according to plan.…