This book provides practical information about the complexity of school change, with an emphasis on the role of time and its impact, along with other variables, on the change process. The other interacting variables in school change include vision, history, leadership and power, the use of support and pressure, capacity building, consensual contracts, and time. Episodes that describe the nature of current efforts and needs for school reform are presented in chapter 1. The book describes the visions and voices that must be considered (chapter 2); the history and setting that can become important connections (chapter 3); the giving and using of power by different sources of leadership, especially the teacher-leader (chapter 4); the ways in which leaders use pressure and support to initiate change (chapter 5); the ways in which new capacity can be constructed and its dependence on each individual's reflections in action (chapter 6); and the importance of consensual contracts for curriculum and assessment, which are needed for reculturalization and the maintenance of change (chapter 7). Chapter 8 illustrates how time in its three perspectives--as a resource, in its passage, and in the sense of timeliness--is also a variable of critical importance. An index, 4 figures, and 1 table are included. (Contains 127 references.) (LMI)