In 8 chapters and 2 appendixes, investigators describe research in 14 elementary and secondary schools--in urban, suburban, and rural areas--on school conditions affecting educational change efforts. Conducted over 3 years, the research focused on classroom-level changes and used interviews, observation, and document review for data collection and comparative case studies for data analysis. Chapter 1 introduces the study and discusses planned change. Chapter 2 presents an overview of the research and profiles the 14 schools. Field agents and school change are reviewed in chapter 3. Chapters 4 and 5 examine the change process, looking at the effects of school conditions first on sequential planning and then on teacher prarticipation. Outcomes of change are covered in the next two chapters, the first analyzing the implementation and the second the continuation of change. The last chapter traces changes in local school conditions through the life of change projects. The researchers found that field agents, planning, participation, implementation, and continuation were affected by eight conditions, including resource and incentive availability, school linkages and goals, faculty tensions and turnover, current school practices and knowledge use, and prior change projects. Appendixes cover research methods and assessment of school conditions. (RW)