Using as an example the development of the comprehensive school concept in the Netherlands, this paper explores the strategy for educational innovation in a centralized national educational system, the role of educational research and evaluation in educational innovation, the impact of research on policy-making, and the strengths and weaknesses of educational research and evaluation for developing policy. The comprehensive school concept involves increasing the number of years of basic education for students while postponing the time when they will be tracked into specifically academic or vocational high schools by approximately 3 years. The paper analyzes the effects of changes in government on the availability of support for experimentation and discusses the failings of a strategy for development that called on the experimental schools to develop programs independently while contributing to the national effort. The types and functions of research necessary for implementation and evaluation of an innovation are considered next, followed by descriptions of the research done on the comprehensive school experiment and of the purposes to which the research was put. The paper concludes with an analysis of the factors affecting innovations and offers recommendations for more effective research, implementation, and policy-making strategies. (PGD)