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Despite nearly 50 years of attempts at reform, the US defense acquisition system continues to deliver weapon systems over budget, behind schedule, and with performance shortfalls. Why has acquisition reform failed? Three potential contributors were identified in the literature: the misalignment of incentives, a lack of a systems view, and a lack of objective evaluation criteria. This thesis considers these problems in the context of the most recent effort to transform the defense acquisition enterprise, evolutionary acquisition. First, game theory was employed to analyze the incentives of participants in the defense acquisition enterprise regarding the use of immature technology. It was found that there is a tragedy of the commons at work where acquisition programs serve as a common resource for stakeholders to meet their goals. The result is that participants are incentivized to use immature technology in contradiction of evolutionary acquisition policies. Second, the cost and performance of evolutionary acquisition in the context of the defense acquisition system was analyzed using a discrete event simulation. What was found was that evolutionary acquisition may lead to better performance from fielded systems and lower cost programs but also that the cost of operating the acquisition system as whole may actually rise. Finally, a method using price indices was developed to translate the gain in buying power resulting from improvements to the defense acquisition system into a monetary valuation. This allows for the application of options analysis to determine whether or not it is cost effective to pursue a potential improvement. A comparison with a more traditional approach revealed that simply using the NPV of cost savings may significantly understate value.

In this study factors which affect the degree of implementation of a curricular change were examined to determine how well a specific curricular change was implemented in relation to the original intent. The change, Developmentally Appropriate Practice, was implemented in Department of Defense Dependents Schools, Germany Region, beginning in school year 1991-1992 in grades kindergarten through two. During school year 1993-1994, grade three began the transition to Developmentally Appropriate Practice. Several factors which influence teacher behavior during the implementation process were investigated to determine if there is a correlation between those factors and degree of implementation, the dependent variable. The independent variables in this study were school culture; administrators' leadership effectiveness; teacher concerns about the implementation; and teacher characteristics including age, years teaching experience, years experience in Department of Defense Dependents' Schools, and training. The degree of implementation, the dependent variable, was defined in terms of the extent to which teachers had changed their behavior to become congruent with behavior required by the change. Teachers were identified as high, moderate, or low implementers, based on classroom observations. One purpose of the study was to increase understanding of implementation by analyzing the factors which affect the behavior of teachers in the change process. A second purpose of the study was to add to the body of research that explains why so many educational changes fail to become established practice. To establish interobserver reliability, two observers rated teachers using the same protocol. The interobserver reliability coefficient found was reported at .9820. The participants in the study completed the Stages of Concern Questionnaire, the Administrative Effectiveness Survey, the School Culture Survey, and a demographic survey. The results were correlated with the Early Childhood Classroom Observation form. Amount of training was found to have a statistically significant positive relationship with degree of implementation (p=.006). Statistically significant positive relationships were not found between the other independent variables and degree of implementation.