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Associating the personnel turnover in the small, rural public schools of Willcox, Arizona with implementation of a plan for change under the National Institute of Education's Experimental Schools Program (1973), this paper attempts to explain staff turnover in terms of the anthropological concept "world view" as manifest in pupil-centered vs adult-centered perceptions of time. Specifically, this paper asserts that Willcox school personnel hired under the Experimental Schools Program were faced with an ambiguous situation in that there was no clear distinction made between adult-centered and student-centered roles. The analysis of extensive formal and informal interviews with school people as presented here suggests that: there was a definite correlation between staff turnover and the impact of the Experimental Schools Program; the creation of new positions for implementing federally sponsored change is no easy task, since people brought in to be change agents do not seem to be able to operate effectively without a personal tradition of pupil-centered or adult-centered "world views"; and the adult-centered world of administrators can more readily incorporate new people within its structures than the pupil-centered world. (JC)

The planned Experimental Schools (ES) project changed drastically before it was implemented in Willcox, Arizona, a diverse, multicultural community open to new ideas and outside innovations. As planned by a core of interested principals, teachers, and staff, with help from federal personnel, the project originally called for changes (in curriculum; staff training and utilization; use of time and facilities; administration, organization, and governance; community-schools partnership) and local evaluation. A changing relationship with Washington, significant personnel changes, community dissatisfaction, and confusion as to who "owned" the project transformed the plan into something far different. The implemented ES project consisted of isolated projects in early childhood education, bilingual education, media use, reading, counseling and guidance, and community schools. The positive and exciting planning year was followed by numerous faculty and administrative resignations. The first year of implementation was largely dependent on the personality of the new superintendent, who also resigned at the end of that year, due to increasing disagreement between Washington and Willcox. During the next three years, the increasingly limited project remained a mystery to most teachers, whose interest went to other projects. When the project was terminated a year early, neither the schools nor the community were suprised. (SB)