Why Schools Abandon “New Social Studies” Materials

Abstract

Abstract Eight hypotheses dealing with the abandonment of innovations were inferentially developed from the educational change literature, most of which deals with the adoption of innovations. The hypotheses pertained to the characteristics of the innovations themselves, change strategies, and the school culture. Seven Indiana schools planning to abandon the use of some of the “new social studies” materials were identified. Structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with principals, department heads, and social studies teachers in the seven schools. It was found that the loss of an innovation's major advocate, unrealistic expectations on the part of users regarding how an innovation would perform, and problems resulting from the misapplication of the innovation were the primary contributors to decisions to abandon the “new social studies” materials in these seven schools.