Trends of educational change in (formerly) East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria are examined as restructuring takes place during the establishment of democratic political processes. These trends are culled from over 50 onsite semistructured interviews in August 1990, as part of a longitudinal study to document educational reform in this region. The theoretical framework, definitions, and methodology of the study precede the discussion of patterns of change of restructuring efforts that fall into five broad themes. They are decentralizing of educational administration; democratization within the schools; pluralism in school reform; curricular reform; and increased choice for local educational stakeholders such as teachers, students, and parents. Six challenges are considered most pertinent to educational restructuring. They are bureaucratic inertia, resource and planning requirements, retraining/training teachers for new pedagogy and content, the search for a new national identity, building on previous educational reform, and trust in the government. The paper concludes with reflections on change patterns. (RR)