Over a three-year period every school system in Maryland received State Department of Education support in putting into practice research on effective teaching, using strategies and processes from the research on effective staff development and planned change. This paper summarizes some of the findings of an intensive study of this program, School Improvement Through Instructional Process. It discusses factors most strongly influencing successful implementation, impact, and institutionalization of four research-based innovations: (1) active teaching; (2) mastery learning; (3) student team learning; and (4) teaching variables. It also explores implications of these findings for the improvement of teaching and for effective educational change. (JD)