Federal Programs Supporting Educational Change

The fourth volume in a series of reports, sponsored by the U.S. Office of Education, on federally funded (change agent) programs designed to introduce and spread innovative practices in public schools. This report summarizes the series' findings and synthesizes extensive data collected by Rand on change agent projects and federal management for each program. It also includes a discussion of the tentative policy implications of the work for federal policy. The data show that a receptive institutional setting is a necessary but not sufficient condition for effective implementation. An implementation strategy promoting mutual adaptation is critical. Factors affecting the outcome of innovations were the institutional setting, particularly organizational climate and motivations of participants; the implementation strategy selected by local innovators to install the project treatment; and the scope of change implied by the project. Neither project technology nor project resources nor the different federal management strategies influenced outcomes significantly.