Sustainability and Transferability of Instructional Reforms

The schools in this group of case studies each made the commitment to improve student learning by implementing innovative pedagogical practices using technology. These innovations involved great investments in time and financial resources. Therefore, it is encouraging that the teachers say they will continue the innovations, and that teachers from all of the schools studied held this view. It appears that a change has occurred in teaching practices, not only at the school (meso) level, but also at the level of the individual teacher (micro). This level of change is important for sustainability because school- level changes may over time threaten the implementation of the innovations school-wide. Individual teachers, on the other hand, can continue the innovations to some extent within their own classrooms.
At the same time, there is reason for concern about the transferability of these reforms to other schools. The issues of funding, changes in local and state policies, changes in school leadership, teacher turnover, and teacher burnout all limit the transferability of these innovations to other schools.