A case study of the implementation of the Reading First grant in the Dallas Independent School District

After forty years and billions spent on educational programs, minority and at-risk students are still not at a level of academic proficiency (A Guide to Education and No Child Left Behind 2004). Among the many reasons cited for this result, one is failure to implement, which is what happens between the development of a program, the concerns of the people who must carry it out, and the outcomes. Specifically, critical changes in the roles and relationships of individuals must take place within an organization before successful implementation of an innovation can occur. Successful implementation starts and ends with an individual. Even when the initiative is introduced to everyone in the same way, the time required to develop the necessary skills to be successful will be different for each person. Implementation is about people and the new practices they acquire in their classrooms, schools, and districts. It is also about those who coach the individuals to change (Hall and Hord 2001). It is common knowledge that there is difficulty in implementing government programs. Therefore, it is surprising to note there is little research on implementation in this field. This study will add to the knowledge about the relationship between the stages of concern of individuals who implement a program and the results of the initiative. This research was a case study of the first year implementation of the Dallas Independent School District, a...