This volume explains the purposes and programs of the National Laboratory on Early Childhood Education. Its overriding objective is to broaden the base of knowledge concerning educational intervention and to develop comprehensive early childhood educational models. A brief discussion deals with the problems, strategies, and capacities of the National Lab, and an overview of its program is presented. The document is devoted to resumes of the programs, projects, and activities of the Lab now in progress or to be initiated. These include a program of integrative capacity and the development of a research capacity. The research activities are organized into three major categories: (1) knowledge base development, which concerns studies of developmental processes, individual characteristics, and environmental influences; (2) applied experimentation, which concerns studies of instructional content, instructional methods and techniques, and instructional delivery systems; and (3) the support of research technology, which includes instructional materials design and testing, design and validation of assessment instruments, and statistical model development. The Lab is also creating a centralized development and demonstration program and a resource production project. (DR)