This report describes the design of a Policy Research Center (PRC) for the U.S. Office of Education. The PRC was conceived as a place to produce information and to develop systematic ways of understanding complex processes that would help educational policy planners (1) make better decisions about current problems, (2) anticipate the future, and (3) formulate appropriate long-range policies. After probing ethical issues, surveying the state of knowledge and method in the behavioral sciences, and conducting pilot studies, a set of guiding assumptions and orientations was generated and a PCR was designed. Specific suggestions and detailed procedures for a center are presented, as well as summaries of pilot studies and conclusions. (Author/DE)