In October of 1985, the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) awarded contracts to 29 universities and one regional education center to conduct three-year efforts aimed at research-based improvement of teacher education. All have university-school collaboration as a major theme, and will spend up to one year in development of improvements and then must spend at least two years in demonstrating these improvements and assessing their impact. An analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the 30 funded proposals and common characteristics of those not funded are presented. This analysis looks at the types of changes proposed, the nature and appropriateness of the research cited to support changes, the variety of approaches proposed for collaborative planning and development, and the range of outcomes envisioned and how those outcomes will be assessed. The paper also contains an analysis of how various aspects of the proposals appear to be consistent with, or contrary to, existing research knowledge and practical wisdom. Also addressed are the possible implications of the proposed work for bringing about significant improvement in teacher education. The paper concludes with a section on the most salient messages coming from the set of proposals. (JD)