A study of effective strategies for professional development of teachers of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students in the Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts public schools took a functional-collaborative research approach, involving teachers and administrators in examining the study's issues and conclusions. An early survey revealed that teachers desired training to improve the transition process for students moving from native language to English-language instruction, and the study focused on developing techniques for this purpose. A comparison of native-language, English-as-a-second-language, and standard English programs suggested that the transition process is made more difficult by discontinuities in teaching strategies and language skill sequences in and across all program types, and that more careful coordination of instructional chains and sequences across programs would improve both transitioning and interprogram communication. Because of the study's functional-collaborative structure, increased coordination and communication was an immediate result of the research, and this research strategy is recommended for future research efforts in education. (MSE)