Abstract
Purpose. As we approach the twenty-first century, educational leaders are challenged to rethink traditional approaches to educational practices. If proposed changes are to become a reality, teachers will play a critical role in the success of transforming the educational system. The need to identify those catalysts that motivate individuals to personally decide to try an innovation is critical for organizations intent upon institutionalizing change. Therefore, a key issue facing change leaders is the need to know why teachers really commit to a change effort. The purpose of this study was to identify those factors which motivated or influenced teachers to implement an educational change effort; specifically the California English Language Arts Framework. Methodology. This study was conducted by interviewing a countywide random sample of sixty Orange County teachers (thirty elementary and thirty high school) regarding the dominant factors that influenced their change from traditional English language arts classroom practices to framework implementation. A chi-square test of independence was used to determine whether these differences existed. Findings and conclusions. This study identified fifteen dominant factors as influencing teachers' decisions to implement the English Language Arts Framework. The top two factors identified by the total sample were distributed differently between elementary and high school teachers: twice as many high school teachers as elementary teachers indicated that collegial influence/support was a dominant motivating factor and twice as many elementary teachers as high school teachers indicated that trying the framework strategies and observing student success was a dominant motivating factor. There were no significant differences in the distributions according to level of education or years of teaching experience. In this study, peer-to-peer, mentoring relationships and simple experimentation with new strategies are identified as important contributors in influencing teachers to make a change.