This report explores the effects of federal, state, and local fiscal cutbacks and of federal and state categorical program consolidation and deregulation on the capacity of state, intermediate, and local education agencies to provide instructional improvement services to schools in California, Nevada, and Utah. The planning process and impact of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) of 1981 are studied along with compensatory education, special education, and state and local improvement programs. Dissemination functions are examined with special attention given to staff development. The findings are based on document analysis, telephone and field interviews with more than 100 persons, and site visits to more than two dozen agencies in the three states. The first section of the report contains an overview and key findings for each state, along with cross-state analysis of ECIA findings and staff development effects; this section also discusses the implications and the futures of educational research and development, dissemination, and school improvement in the Far West. Separate sections contain detailed information for each state, including small case studies of local and intermediate agencies that describe current conditions, planning activities, and probable impacts of cutbacks, consolidation, and deregulation. (MLF)