In education, the road from research to practice is a long one and includes research, development, and application. The notion of a continuum from research to practice was recognized in 1965 when the provisions of the Cooperative Research Program were incorporated into the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Since that time, however, total funds for research and development have leveled off and expenditure priorities have been given to specific research and dissemination programs such as regional R & D centers and the ERIC system. These programs, meritorious as they are, have left less and less for general research purposes. Research itself is the basic capital in the research-dissemination-application system. Development and application cannot long be supported at the expense of research. (DE)