Teachers' utilization of personal practical knowledge in effecting school reform was analyzed in a three-year project in a Toronto inner city elementary school. The major unit of study was the school, investigated through the eyes of teachers, principal, and other people responsible for school policy. The study was pursued in the context of the school board's Race Relations Policy and Inner-city Language Development Policy, and is presented in four volumes. Participant observers noted the activities of the principals, teachers, and one teacher in particular to determine the key factors affecting their practice in school and classroom. Then these practices were explained in terms of the staff's personal knowledge. This first volume is divided into four parts: (1) an overview of the project; (2) a detailed summary of the observations; (3) an account of the methodology; (4) an analysis of commonly held images about the relationship between theory and practice and how the images held by board and school personnel influence the institution's shape and direction. (MCK)