Some of the concern about educators' failures to build a strong educational foundation revolves around the idea of "professional" and its relationship to the concept of "malpractice." Educators usually claim that education is a profession of practice and thus ought to embody at least a generalized statement about professional ethics and behavior. However, much of education's rush to "world class" status is not built on reasonable research results, even as researchers and others continue to seek new research bases for education improvement. There are several ways to begin improving the current education system: (1) borrow ideas and innovations from other disciplines; (2) incorporate research results from education and other closely related fields; or (3) combine the first two approaches to improve the structure of education through borrowed innovations and also improve the internal mechanisms and technical core of education by incorporating research results from education and education-related disciplines. The paper focuses on the third option, identifying both externally and internally feasible ideas for improving professional practice. The paper also discusses the professor's role with a focus on the relationship between educational scholarship and practice. A description of Project STAR, a research-supported school-improvement effort that explored the effects of small class size on academic achievement in grades K-3 concludes the paper. The STAR data have potential for building a solid foundation for reinventing education. Improvement will be impeded if educators do not employ research results, evaluate various applications, and apply advances in the knowledge base. One table is included. Appendices contain information on the practitioner as professional educator, Getzels' (1979, 1985) problem categories, and one figure. (Contains 30 references.) (LMI)