Durability of innovations: how goal attainment scaling programs fare over time.

Why do some implementations in human service settings of goal attainment scaling (GAS), an innovative program evaluation technique, last over time, whereas others die out despite an initially successful period of operation? To provide some tentative answers to this question and to help shed more light generally on differences between sustained and nonsustained innovative programs in service delivery organizations, 10 intensive case studies were conducted. Four were goal attainment scaling programs that have proved durable over time in their host organizations versus six other programs in which goal attainment scaling did not survive despite some initial success. These case studies were analyzed both clinically and by means of expert judges' ratings to identify some of the critical variables that seem to be associated with durability of the goal attainment scaling programs.