Using a case study approach, this investigation focused on the deliberations and decision-making processes involved in the development of a physical science curriculum to be delivered by interactive videodiscs. The mediating factors that influenced the developmental processes included the participants and their perceptions, their decisions and factors influencing their decisions. The Curriculum and Instruction Advisory Committee of the Texas Learning Technology Group was selected as the subject of this study which used qualitative data collection methods. Data collection included participant observation of curriculum meetings followed by structured interviews of the participants. Document analyses were triangulated with the observations and interviews to ascertain influences on decision-making processes. Developmental processes indicated the emergence of staff and committee procedures. Procedures were influenced by school district and personal philosophies, teacher and student needs, and constraining factors such as state Developmental processes indicated the emergence of staff and committee procedures. Procedures were influenced by school district and personal philosophies, teacher and student needs, and constraining factors such as state mandates. Other influencing factors included research, tradition, and politics. Core curriculum was to be delivered by interactive videodiscs and include remediation and enrichment loops along with laboratory simulations. Participants stressed that students perform traditional laboratory experiments …

The purpose of this study was to compare the legal costs of Texas public school districts during the school years 1980-81, 1981-82, and 1982-83 with the preventive law practices utilized by those districts. A survey was made of Texas superintendents' knowledge of school law. The data were contrasted with legal costs and the preventive law practices of the district. Two survey instruments were developed, and the case study approach was utilized. A survey was sent to the 1,101 Texas public school superintendents. The twenty-five item instrument was designed to solicit information regarding the amount of money spent by districts and the types of preventive law practices that school districts use to reduce legal costs. A legal awareness questionnaire was developed and administered to 72 of the 542 superintendents who responded to the first survey instrument. Three school districts were selected to be case study sites. The data from the instruments were analyzed to determine if a relationship existed between a district's legal costs and its preventive law practices, a district's legal costs and the superintendent's knowledge of school law, and a superintendent's knowledge of school law and the district's preventive law practices. The major conclusions of the study were as …