The report reviews results of a project to examine pilot approaches to documenting the contributions of research in improving educational practice. The project abstracted 110 currently funded research projects in progress (to facilitate dissemination to the field), processed final reports of field-initiated and student-initiated research funded by special education programs for the last 5 years, and identified major research areas supported by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and synthesized findings in a cumulative analysis. Two research areas, communications and assessment, were selected for special examination and analysis, and two papers ("Communications Research: A Review of Field and Student Initiated Projects Supported by Special Education Programs" by H. Prehm and "Review of SEP Supported Research: Assessment" by J. Gaffney) were developed and are appended. Reviewers' analyses of the papers suggested that assessment of the contributions of research to the evaluation of educational practice should include (1) reviewing research reports, identifying the concepts involved, and noting the developmental state of the concepts within the project; (2) identifying concepts to be evaluated and then determining which concepts are dealt with in specific projects and the evolutionary state of the concept within the project; and (3) tracing the incorporation of practice concepts into textbooks, teaching materials, teacher preparation, and overall educational practice. (CL)