Action Research on Change in Schools (ARCS) was a two-year collaborative action research project involving two groups of middle/junior high school teachers, one in Michigan and one in New Hampshire. While the purpose of the project for the university researchers was to examine individual change within the framework of collaborative action research, the pervasive concern of the teachers throughout the project was school change. Based on these goals, the ARCS teams evolved into "temporary systems," defined as groups of individuals who engage in a joint task for a limited period of time. Peer support, the sharing of ideas, the experience of collegiality and group decision making, were especially prized by the ARCS teachers. The teams created their own operational contexts based on an atmosphere of collegiality and inquiry. By the end of the project, both teams recommended that the context created through the collaborative action research process become the school's context for decision making and initiating change. (BW)