This paper analyzes the collaboration between the University of Texas Research and Development Center for Teacher Education and two school systems. The researchers ranked each school district according to seven Stages of Concern. School System A was inner-oriented, with strong personal and management concerns, while School System B was outer-focused, with strong collaboration concerns. The R & D center's interaction with System A was obviously not as successful as the center's interaction with System B. Over a 14-month period, movement in School System A was very slow, with the entire 14 months devoted to clarifying tasks. However, in System B, nine of the 14 months were devoted to actual research. Some of the questions raised by this evaluation include, How can an inner-directed organization be moved toward outer direction? What role should an R & D center play in changing the organizational climate in an inner-directed organization? These questions and others must be answered in order for successful collaboration to take place. This paper is one contribution to the symposium, "A Federal Institute, A University R&D Center, and a School District Join Forces: The Processes and the Problems." (Author/DS)