The content of this book is embedded in two historical frameworks. The first is the history of American education in which the basic underlying premise is that education is a means of achieving equality in our society. The other is the development of educational research in the United States which was founded on a deep conviction that one could find solutions to complex problems through scientific inquiry. Part I provides some notion of the meaning of equality of educational opportunity. Part II, a discussion of the implications of research and evaluation, is important as a result of the national thrust of large scale programs of social action in education, and the controversy that has surrounded evaluation efforts. There has been a change in thinking from the more traditional method of looking at schools in terms of the quality of the school plant, the facilities and the credentials of professional personnel to a reliance on measuring the performance of the children who attend the schools. Thus one is faced with the issue of testing and its relation to political, social and ideological questions. Part III provides an overview of research which in our judgment is essential for those who need a background for examining the concept of educational equality. The heart of the book is Part IV, "Exemplary Evaluation and Research Studies"; the investigations included in this chapter are categorized as status, experimental, survey, evaluative, comparative and descriptive. Part V examines "New Perspectives for Research." (Author/JM)