Political backgrounds and innovation strategies as influences on middle school implementation

Innovations towards middle schools consist of deliberate processes to change structure and content of educational systems against a socio-political background with the aim of realizing equal educational opportunities. They have curricular, structural and strategic dimensions as deliberate change processes. On the curricular dimension, content, objectives, and teaching methods are objects of change. On the structural dimension the educational system itself is the object of change.The political background is described in terms of primary aims of the innovation, the will to change the structure and locus of decision making. Strategic distinctions are made and analyzed between top-down and bottom-up approaches, integrated and holistic versus functional and specialist approaches, and approaches with a wide participation of those involved contrasted with as effective as possible use of available expertise. Implementation successes such as changes in structure, in curriculum and in student outcomes are analyzed and interrelationships between these changes re-investigated.It is not possible to draw unambiguous conclusions. Some trends, however, do emerge. Socio-political agreement on means as well as ends seems to determine success. Structural changes are best brought about in centralized, top-down approaches, while curriculum changes seem to require more participation of those directly involved.