Common Thread Cases: Teachers in the Midst of Reform was begun in July of 1994 to support new and experienced teachers confronted with changing expectations for performance. The project title derives from "The Thread That Runs So True," a line from the chant of a mountain folk game and the title of Jesse Stuart's widely acclaimed narrative about teaching in Appalachian Kentucky (Stuart, 1949). Each case developed in the project will be available in both a multimedia and hard copy format and must meet the following criteria:

1. Consist of a true story capturing the types of dilemmas and accomplishments teachers experience in policy-driven reform.
2. Relate to one or more of the state-adopted teacher performance standards consistent with national standards: not as a formula, but as an illustration of rich and detailed depictions of classroom practice.
3. Provide views of the possible, what we refer to as images of aspiration.