This is the first of four appendixes to Volume III of the Rand report "Federal Programs Supporting Educational Change." This appendix is a description of Title III of the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as it operates at the federal and state levels, together with a description and analysis of factors that contribute to the strengths and weaknesses of selected Title III projects. Section 1 describes the origins and the planning and management strategies that the United States Office of Education (USOE) adopted for Title III, both in the state plan program, which is administered by state departments of education, and in the smaller federally funded programs, which USOE administers directly. Section 2 describes the role of state education agencies in Title III. Section 3 presents syntheses of the fieldwork case studies. In examining Title III, the researchers decided to focus on projects that were reputed to be successful in one of two particularly difficult aspects of reform: classroom organization, which generally implies a shift in classroom practice toward concepts of open education; and staff development, which often aims at important changes in teacher behavior. Section 4 presents the individual case studies. (Author)