Sustainability: An Enduring Commitment to Success

Abstract. Heartland Area Education Agency in Iowa illustrates how it has sustained a problem-solving service delivery system for 15 years and adapted to changing state and federal requirements while remaining consistent with its guiding principles that emphasize direct assessment, intervention, progress monitoring,and the evaluation of student results. The infrastructure supporting organizational transformation to a problem-solving system occurred on two levels,global and local. The reform effort is described in four phases. The system is evolving from individual problem solving in all cases to a more efficient system that integrates both group-level and individual interventions. Once the reform process is established, scaling up is refocused on the depth, or integrity, of implementation.