The purposes of this booklet are (a) to suggest the kinds of research needed to close the knowledge gap that now exists with respect to competency based teacher education (CBTE), (b) to build a case for CBTE programs as contexts for research in education and teacher education, and (c) to outline a framework for proceeding with basic research in these areas. The booklet outlines four different kinds of studies that need to be undertaken. These are (a) studies of alternative approaches to the mastery of teaching competencies; (b) studies to collect information to facilitate broad policy-level decisions about CBTE; (c) studies to search for new constructs and new ways of measuring constructs, to test models, and to search for principles of instruction that can be applied to teacher education; and (d) studies to describe the development, structure, operation, and/or diffusion of programs. The remaining sections of the booklet deal with how CBTE programs can be organized so as to function as contexts for research as well as training, and how the program of research might best be implemented. Two examples of programs which are now functioning as research contexts are described, and a plan for implementing the research and documentation program being called for is outlined. An appendix is included which describes a competency based teacher education project for the Consortium of Southern Colleges for Teacher Education. (RC)