The National Institute of Education (NIE), a Federal agency started in August 1972, is concerned primarily with educational research and development. Programs existing prior to NIE, including most of the research programs of the Office of Education and several programs of the Office of Economic Opportunity, were transferred to NIE. In addition, planning papers which focused on specific educational problems or on the contributions which various disciplines might make to the study of education were commissioned before NIE was actually established. Much of the first year of NIE's existence was spent in reviewing and evaluating programs that were transferred into the agency, recruiting a staff, and digesting the planning papers that had been prepared. For example, the planning paper on sociology, prepared by a committee chaired by Burton Clark of Yale, points out the need to study schools as social organizations and to increase knowledge of how educational institutions interact with other sectors of the society. Sociologists have a great deal to contribute in these areas and are solicited to participate in research through any or all of the following NIE programs: 1) Office of Research Grants; 2) Office of Research and Exploratory Studies; 3) Office of Programmatic Research and Development; and 4) Office of Research and Development Resources. (Author/RM)