During the 1985-86 school year, a district's implementation of a newly-adopted social studies curriculum for the grades from kindergarten through high school was studied using 50 Stages of Concern questionnaires and 23 Levels of Use interviews drawn from the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). The study results suggested that (1) although citing lack of time and materials as a problem of the curriculum, teachers at all levels met the challenge in highly varied ways; (2) teachers uninvolved in developing the curriculum found educationally sound methods for coping, including creative nonuse; (3) despite considerable participation by social studies teachers in development of the curriculum, many respondents felt that opportunities for teacher input were insufficient; and (4) a wealth of relevant, teacher-created material designed to complement the curriculum remains unavailable outside the individual teachers' own classrooms. This paper briefly reviews the literature on implementation of innovations by teachers; describes CBAM, the assumptions on which it is based, and the elements of its Stages of Concern and Levels of Use components; defines creative nonuse and provides examples from the study; and advises districts to involve teachers closely in curriculum changes. (PGD)