This executive summary highlights key elements of a paper produced by the National Center for Research in Vocational Education for persons interested in maximizing benefits from research and development in vocational education. This summary describes the legislative background, conceptual model, essential framework, and operational guidelines for a state-managed vocational education program improvement system. One state, Illinois, is used to illustrate the program improvement function through the research coordinating unit. The concepts in the paper may take various forms of relationships and procedures within a particular state governance structure, but the concepts of priority development, research and planning, development and testing, and diffusion/implementation are considered essential to a comprehensive program improvement framework. (Author/BM)