The efforts of the Detroit Center for Professional Growth and Development in improving the professional standards of elementary-secondary teachers are discussed. Operating since March 1976, the Center focuses on staff development activities linking inservice programs to teachers' and students' needs. Activities are decentralized, being offered on a college campus, at local schools, or at convenient locations for the 14,000 educators in its service area. Activities are of either direct response (teacher requested) or indirect response (city/system-wide) nature, with requests being processed by the Field Consultant Services outreach component of the system. Another outreach component, Special Project Schools, provides an identifiable research base for testing the hypothesis that staff development will lead to improved pupil achievement. Mathematics and Reading Resource Centers support these outreach components. Research and evaluation efforts to validate achievement improvement are undertaken to determine how best to convert new staff skills into improved classroom performance. Participant reaction to the project has been favorable. (MJB)