This research note combines three papers that suggest roles for the National Institute of Education (NIE). The first paper concludes that the work sponsored by the NIE should depart from past educational research in two ways: (1) educational issues should be examined in the context of broad societal issues and problems and (2) exploration of those issues should be essentially a moral inquiry. The remainder of the paper explores these two assertions, concluding with a discussion of NIE's role in educational reform and some examples of research questions that follow from the analysis presented. In the second and third papers, an attempt is made to translate conclusions from future oriented inquiry about the societal context of education into goals and programs for NIE. (Author/JF)