A 10-year study is exploring the understanding and validation of the curricular decision making process in an early childhood teacher education curriculum. The inquiry focuses on four major questions: (1) Do teacher educators integrate data describing various aspects of teacher preparation, teacher practice, and pupil performance into their curricular decision making? (2) What conclusions do teacher educators generate related to the data? (3) Are the conclusions integrated into the curriculum making process? and (4) How is the teacher education curriculum changed as the result of data integration? Answers to these questions will reveal what happens, when, why, and to whom, and will establish a clearer picture of teacher education trends, effects, and changes. Population for the study includes, for each year, approximately 250 teacher education students beginning their professional preparation. Study of their development will continue through the 10-year research project. Faculty/administrative curriculum decision makers involved in pre- and in-service teacher education will also be used as subjects. Part I of this document, a prospectus, describes the research project under way, including information on purposes of the investigation, background, significance, methodology, data collection and analysis, and suggestions for dissemination. Part II is a narrative report on activities of the first year of the study (1982). (JD)