The process of innovation in schools has been described as "messy" and "rich," "full of coercion and shared struggle, indifference and heavy involvement, and uncertain results and real payoffs" (Huberman & Miles, 1984, p. 1). Two critical criteria might help us to understand how change in school processes such as the introduction of new classroom teaching techniques might come about. According to Checkland (1981), changes must be desirable from the perspective of those involved and must be "culturally feasible given the characteristics of the situation, the people in it, their shared experiences, and their prejudices" (p. 181). The difficulty in meeting these criteria for classroom innovations has been widely documented. Sarason

(1982) consistently described the complexity of the school as a social institution, examining why changes do not easily occur. Other researchers of the knowledge diffusion process, such as Rogers (1983), found a considerable time lag required for the widespread adoption of new educational ideas.