Utilizing nine schools located in the San Francisco Bay area, a study was conducted to examine the patterns by which microcomputers are accepted and implemented in high schools. Rather than the educational or social effects of this new academic resource, the study focused on: (1) the process of the behaviors and decisions leading to the acquisition of microcomputers, and (2) their subsequent implementation. Answers were sought to questions concerning what caused school administrators and teachers to become interested in educational microcomputers, what academic and administrative tasks are considered appropriate for microcomputers, what causes/enables the adoption of microcomputers, existing barriers to the adoption of microcomputers in schools, and the changes microcomputers bring to the schools that adopt them. Findings indicate that external pressures, rather than sound instructional practice, force educators to adopt microcomputers; school planning is usually insufficient to adapt microcomputers to the curriculum; introduction of the microcomputer produces a great deal of uncertainty and attendant anxiety in schools that adopt it; and, however "fragile" the microcomputer may be, it is probably not a fad that will pass away. Specific case studies of the diffusion of microcomputers in the nine schools, and summaries of site visits to each school, are appended. (JB)