Researchers are becoming increasingly aware of context variables in interpreting research findings. The Procedures for Adopting Educational Innovations (PAEI) Project at the Texas Research and Development Center for Teacher Education has been attempting to identify and conceptualize important research-based and clinical-based context variables. An implication of this research is that researchers must ask a series of specific questions about the state of an innovation (treatment), rather than implicitly assuming what the influence of contextual variables are on the independent and dependent variables in their research designs. The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM), specifically the "Levels of Use" concept, aids in determining how an innovation is actually being used and how the innovation itself changes during implementation. The mutations of the innovation have been labeled "configurations." The implication for teacher effects researchers is that both Levels of Use and configurations may vary for any given teacher, and both can be assessed as one way of describing the context. (Author/JD)