Working in partnership with state education officials, Lab staff made recommendations on the document's design, wrote descriptions of effective strategies and programs, collected feedback from a national panel of experts and practitioners, and helped revise the content based on the panel's feedback. The state education department incorporated the menu into its guidelines for developing, implementing, and evaluating the education improvement plans that the state requires of 30 high-need districts. A 1994 Lab telephone survey found that urban superintendents are indeed using the document to influence QEA spending decisions and review the quality of their current programs. And the Appalachia Educational Laboratory is a source of information on KERA's progress and effects in rural communities, as a result of a long-term qualitative study being conducted by the Laboratory. Since school year 1990-1991, Lab researchers have been visiting schools in four rural districts, generally immersing themselves in the school community.
Researchers observe classrooms, conduct interviews, and talk to teachers and parents.
Reports have discussed such findings as an increased emphasis on writing in upper-elementary grades and teachers' continued reliance on traditional materials and techniques.