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A case study was made of an interorganizational arrangement involving collaboration between a college of education, intermediary service agencies, and a collection of schools or school districts. The relationships among partners in the arrangement are examined with a focus on linking mechanisms and boundary-spanning roles. The case study is made of the Statewide Teacher Center Network, and two of its constituent members, the Arcadia Teacher Center and the Three Rivers Teacher Center. All are located in a large, sparsely populated midwestern state. Each of the two centers acted as an intermediary, linking a college of education with surrounding school districts and counties. A description is given of the origins of the Statewide Teacher Center Network and of the Arcadia and Three Rivers Centers. In describing the first two years of collaborations between these institutions, consideration is given to events and activities, available resources, objectives, key persons, barriers and facilitators, and the dynamics of interaction between the institutions. The present collaborative effort is examined, focusing on the main events and institutional context, structure and procedures, changes in objectives, and resource changes. A discussion is presented of the outcomes of the collaborative effort and possibilities for the future. Profiles are given of specific projects at the Arcadia and Three Rivers Centers. Diagrams are presented of the factors that appeared to account for the outcomes obtained in each of the centers studied. (JD)

This case study focuses on formal agreements between a college of education and individual school districts. The Office of Field Experiences (OFE), founded at Eastern State University's College of Education in the 1960s, formally collaborated with five school districts to establish either teacher centers or professional development centers. Each of these formal collaborations, involving exchanges of resources to establish and maintain the centers, constituted a district-level interorganizational arrangement (IOA). Coordinators of the centers attended monthly OFE meetings. Additionally, OFE held its own retreat, special events, and workshops. The OFE represented a holistic IOA which formally and regularly brought together the coordinators of the separate district level IOAs. Part One of this case study presents a history of the IOA, its historical and institutional context, and the founding of the first centers. Part Two outlines the present configuration of the IOA, changes in objectives, key persons, resource changes, activities, barriers, facilitators, and dynamics between participants. Descriptions are also given of operations of the Cardon County Center and the Hanburg County Center. In Part Three, outcomes are described for the IOA as a whole and for the Cardon and Hanburg Centers. Another section presents a discussion of future possibilities for all units of the IOA. A presentation is given of three episodes which illustrate the interorganizational dynamics of the Eastern State University case. (JD)

This case study of an interorganizational arrangement (IOA) involves a set of school districts and a college of education located in one of the most affluent areas in the United States. The school districts had a reputation for being among the strongest in public education, and it was from these schools that the university drew teachers to become professors at the college of education. The history of the Eastern Private IOA, its roots in 1920, its founding, its decline, and its renewal in the 1940s are related. The institutional structure and procedures are described. Profiles of key personnel (graduate students, directors, school district superintendents, and a college president) are presented with descriptions of their individual activities and philosophies. In discussing the IOA, analyses are made of key events, management activities, the Fellows Program, research and written production, intergroup differences, barriers to collaboration, and successful collaborative activities. The dynamics of the IOA are examined, in particular the areas of conflict and consensus, bargaining and exchange, linkages, and knowledge transfer between participating school districts and the college. The future of the network is examined, focusing on the future socioeconomic context, institutional patterns, staffing, changing objectives, and potential resources. Descriptions are given of the Fellows Program and a writing consortium developed by the IOA. An overview is provided of the entire IOA network and how it is organized. (JD)

Three case studies were made of collaborative networks involving one university and surrounding school districts. One involved a well established network developed by a private university, while two others were associated with state universities. Of these two, one involved bilateral relations between the college of education and each of five counties to establish a teacher center for which there would be shared governance and financial support; the other involved the creation of a federation of teacher centers, many associated with small state colleges, and loosely coordinated by an office at the state university. This report presents a comparison and synthesis of these three cases. Part one describes the design and functions of school-university collaboratives. The background and scope of the present study are described in part two, and the methodology of the study is explained in part three. In part four, a history of the development of the collaboratives is traced. Part five describes the initial operations of the collaboratives and notes their present configurations. Organizational relationships are presented in the sixth part. An analysis and summary of their outcomes is offered in part seven. A causal analysis of the work of the collaboratives is presented in part eight. The ninth part examines the conclusions reached in the study on the nature of interorganizational arrangements, and the tenth part lists implications from the study. It is concluded that productive school-university collaboratives can be established economically, yielding substantial benefits to both participants. (JD)