This book describes the chain stretching from President Nixon's announcement of the Experimental Schools Program in 1969 to the midpoint of its implementation in the Butte-Angels Camp School District (pseudonym for a small mountainous district 400 miles from Denver) in 1976. The story is told in some detail to illustrate the complexities of the process--complexities that are not really well understood either by the people in Washington who design a new program or the people in schools who respond to it. The emphasis in this case is on what took place in the district. As a result, the story portrays the mulitfaceted context in which this project was implemented and the host of issues and special interests that became attached to it. The actual story tells how the district's project was transformed into something that was very different from what was expected by program managers in Washington or by the district's superintendent and his staff who wrote the initial proposals that were funded. However, it provides an opportunity to explore a number of issues that concern those involved in change efforts at whatever level. (Author/BRR)