Composed of three separate papers, this document contains the initial design work required for the National Education Practice File Development Project. The first paper presents the ideas put forth by educators regarding their perceptions of what a "practice file" should be and how it might be organized and maintained. Areas considered include file content, acquisitions, selection, processing, vocabulary development and maintenance, file maintenance, source availability, search and retrieval capability, user products and services, and organization for operating the file. Appended is a directory of the project advisory group. The second paper is a review of existing educational information products and services with which the new file might be coordinated. In particular, it acknowledges the fact that the new file will have to be conceived in terms of the great variety of existing systems--and to illustrate this point it reviews three compilations of educational products and services, three additional products, and three additional services. The third paper documents the selection process used to choose three design alternatives for each file feature discussed in the first paper and presents the recommendations. A short fourth paper discussing the issue of content selection is included with the document. (JD)