ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the importance of understanding the contexts and conditions of educational implementation and their crucial role in the policy process. Implementation—what happens after a policy is passed and how it makes its way into practice—has proven to be as important as the quality of the legislation, if not more so. In implementation, local variability is the rule; uniformity is the exception. A loosely-coupled organization does not have straightforward communication. When considering policy design for a loosely coupled system, mandates are much less effective since they require a level of monitoring and compliance that is hard to accomplish in a loosely coupled system. Often individuals working in bureaucracies must interpret policy with insufficient guidance. Capacity is the tools and training needed to implement a policy. Even if a practitioner believes in a policy, that person may not have the training, the resources, or the time to do so.
