This program development document is submitted--at an intermediate stage of planning--to urge that NIE take certain action for improving education of the poor. Suggestions made are illustrative, not prescriptive. Problems are solved by action, not by speculation; but which Federal action to take is a matter for NIE development and research. After six weeks of preliminary research on which actions are most needed, five conclusions have been reached: (1) few problems of educating the poor are going to be solved without the non-poor removing barriers to educational opportunity; community-action development and research is needed to study the removal of barriers; (2) the Federal government and other governments are the principle instruments of community action, but often the major impediments to community redevelopment activities. Some major development and research, including experimentation activities, should be focused on government intervention and obstruction; (3) to study ways governments may more effectively support community redevelopment, NIE needs the power to establish agencies which, once chartered, are no longer subject to NIE or USOE program directives; (4) the success of all educational programs rests on the quality of personal interactions; NIE development and research should be expected to create better ways of getting talented and compassionate people working on problems of educating the poor; and, (5) the elimination of inequality in education is closely related to the restoration of equality through legal structures. Some of NIE's resources should be focused on researching ways the legal structure works for and against the poor. (Author/JM)