Program evaluators and program managers should examine appropriate dimensions of innovations when deciding to support, accept, or reject an educational innovation. Survey questionnaires were used with 76 teachers and administrators and 65 state supervisors and local project directors of exemplary programs to obtain a list of 38 "essential" characteristics of innovations. An additional 300 educational practitioners responded to a 50-item questionnaire which included the 38 items and Likert-type response categories. These responses were factor-analyzed to identify six dimensions of innovation characteristics: student concern orientation, additional resource requirements, organized resistence potential, consumer report, credibility, and operational implementation. A bibliography is provided. (Author)