Four steering (leadership) functions that appear to be critical for innovation success were identified and delineated in case studies of Dutch primary schools. The relationship between these functions and three implementation outcomes (classroom practices, schoolwide practices, use of materials) was examined. Implications for inservice principal…

The Netherlands' New Basic School was implemented in the mid-1980s to increase individualized instruction and curriculum differentiation in the earliest grades and to improve schools' capacity to serve students with varying learning needs and ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Under the plan, preschools and primary schools were brought…

This paper analyzes a research project that maps implementation efforts of comprehensive and mandated change at the primary school level in The Netherlands. In examining this large-scale national reform program, the report deals with schools whose innovation efforts acquired funding from the central education department in return for their local…