Researchers have only recently recognized that assertions by various educators that they have implemented educational innovations do not all mean the same thing or bear the same weight, according to the authors of this report. Efforts made by the Research and Development Center for Teacher Education at the University of Texas at Austin to formalize research on the implementation of innovations led to the development of two measurement concepts. The first of these, used when assessing the degree to which innovations have been implemented, is called levels of use of the innovation; the second, establishing a perspective from which to define an implemented innovation's operational form, is called innovation configurations. This report discusses several alternative perspectives from which implementation can be viewed, then details the characteristics of the innovation configurations approach. Several conceptual, methodological, and practical issues emerging from this way of defining the status of innovations are explored in the report's final section. (Author/PGD)