Public school districts in Mississippi established the Program of Research and Evaluation for Public Schools (PREPS) to provide good research and evaluation data for sound decision making. A cooperative arrangement was developed with the College of Education at Mississippi State University. PREPS staff directed research and evaluation activities to address each member district's needs and held sharing and training conferences. District personnel completed most of a project, leaving the more technical tasks to PREPS staff. Membership contracts provided funds for the consortium. Resource allocation was achieved using a calendar to plan assignments and schedule activities. The responsibilities of members and PREPS were outlined in annual services-rendered contracts. The role of politics was important to a research and evaluation unit because it generated data for major decisions. Excellent dissemination activities have been PREPS Annual Research Sharing Conferences and Annual Reports. New staff were selected to expand the range of existing skills of PREPS personnel. The PREPS model is suggested as a practical method for smaller school districts to obtain good research and evaluation data. (DWH)