Current curriculum research does not adequately define and test important variables. Therefore, it is difficult to make effective generalizations about long range issues related to curriculum analysis and implementation. An evaluation of a social studies curriculum implementation program in St. Louis provides a number of model variables that must be taken into consideration in systematic research projects. Eight of these variables are critically related to the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the curriculum implementation and dissemination in that project and include inter-district differences, teacher differences, administrative liason, goal ambiguity, teacher role conflict, inadequate conceptual skills, administrative complexity, and defects in conceptual design. Further, there is little research focused on the process of curriculum evaluation, the personnel who ought to be involved in the process and their particular impact, or the means by which results of research are infused into the decision-making setting. New research must consider these problems in addition to publishers' goals and research, community involvement, teacher education, funding, and commitment to long tern research programs. (Author/DE)