Four conferences involving key special education personnel were held on research needs related to: 1) career education for the handicapped, 2) education for the severely handicapped, 3) early childhood education for the handicapped, and 4) development of personnel to serve the handicapped. Major concerns of the career education conference were development of skills for leisure time activities as well as work and the need to find and use existing knowledge to develop methodologies and programs. Themes of the conference on education of the severely handicapped included the need for an adequate system of information exchange among researchers and practitioners, the need for research to be directed to the most critical problems and to be nationally coordinated, and the importance of continuous surveillance and longitudinal data collection. Stressed in the conference on early childhood education for the handicapped were the need for improved early diagnosis, appropriate intervention, research on programs and agencies to develop total service models, and the identification of personnel competencies. Focused on in the conference on the development of personnel to serve the handicapped was the importance of pupil achievement as the basis for judging personnel and program success. Areas of common concern across conferences included the need for information systems and the impact of affirmative action mandates. Primary outcomes of each conference were an annotated bibliography and proceedings of the conference. The major portion of the document consists of appendixes such as the conference schedules and participants and conference recommendations. (DB)