This annual report provides an overview of the major activities of the Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL) for the fiscal year ending November 30, 1971. Three major areas of concentration are a) systems for training education personnel, b) in-service staff training, and c) inquiry oriented instructional systems. Systems for training education personnel emphasize special techniques to promote greater awareness on the part of the teacher of self, pupils, and others. The program currently comprises modules of instruction to equip teachers to understand the needs of inner-city pupils and to develop skills to improve inner-city education. In-service staff training identifies clusters of elementary and junior high schools in a neighborhood that feeds into a high school. Teachers in each cluster receive 20 hours of instruction designed to promote staff unity and help students to develop a positive self concept. Teachers are taught to develop curriculum around modern social realities, and teacher behavior is explored using role playing and intensive seminar discussion. The inquiry-oriented instructional system is composed of six components developing skills by which a teacher can measure and analyze the effect of his behavior on the students, the effects of student behavior on each other and learn to modify these effects to more desirable ones. List of laboratory personnel, participating schools and agencies, expenditures, and corporation members are included. (Author/MJM)