The continuous cry for school improvement in the American culture fuels a never-ending cycle of reform efforts. Literacy education, while often cited as essential to school improvement initiatives, reflects the same cycle of reform. This study described the process used by a school district's literacy department to implement change in both the organizational framework and the instructional practices of literacy education over a nine-year time period. This initiative was approached through a change agent approach that included both systemic development and teacher training as key components.

A qualitative case study was conducted employing the elements of an historical case study design. Data sources included an extensive document review, observational fieldnotes, and interviews conducted with a purposeful sample of representative members. Analysis of the data included both a constant comparative method and a final stage model analysis to surface both themes and overarching findings.

The study uncovered three significant findings related to elements of organizational change. The first finding revealed that Title I programming provided a catalyst for change and influenced district literacy practices by creating a new system of staff development and literacy teacher positions. The second finding concluded that formative and summative assessment practices acted as precipitators of change by typically preceding changes rather than following them and providing a renewable data source to drive instructional decision-making. The final finding of the study recognized the significant influence that the organizational framework of Nested Levels of Learning (Garmston & Wellman, 1999) had on both the long-range planning and problem-solving efforts of the literacy department. The framework served as an organizational tool for the examination and improvement of practice.

This historical examination of an educative model of reform effort in a school district, revealed elements of change in an educational setting that influenced literacy practices. School improvement efforts were found to be of a deep and broad-scale nature and reflected the complexity of educational reform.