Can We Transplant Educational Reform, and Does It Last?

Drawing upon qualitative data gathered ina longitudinal study of 13 U.S. elementaryschools engaged in reform, this articleexamines how comprehensive school reform modelsare adapted as educators' ``co-constructed'reforms in their local contexts and thesustainability and expirations of reformefforts over time. Contextual features, frompractical circumstances such as resourcelimitations to state and district policies toteachers' ideologies, influenced educators inschools to modify reform features to meet localneeds. Findings also show that more often thannot, reforms were not sustained. Six yearsafter the beginning of the study, only four ofthe thirteen schools were still implementingtheir chosen reform designs. The changingdistrict and state policies, leadership, andagendas affected the sustainability ofcomprehensive school reform models in differentways, quite substantially in some cases andless so in others, depending on localconditions, experiences with reform, andcapacity. Implications for policy and practiceare discussed.