In 1979, the Teachers' Centers Exchange, working through the Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development, began a program that provided financial awards for the conduct of collaborative research on exemplary teachers' centers practices. From September 1979 through March 1982, 15 teachers' centers participated in 14 research efforts. Section I of this summary report gives background information on teachers' centers, the Teachers' Center Exchange, and the research project's organization and implementation. In section II, an overview of related research on teachers' centers focuses on inservice education, the role and relationship of school principals to teacher inservice and teachers' centers, and assessments of teachers' needs and interests. Section III contains an analysis and summary of results from the 14 research projects. Discussion is presented about: (1) participant characteristics; (2) responses to individual teacher requests for help outside the centers; (3) interaction with teachers in the center; (4) teachers' center relations with other key persons; (5) assessment of teachers' concerns and needs; and (6) teachers' centers governance. In section IV, the nature of the collaboration between researchers and practitioners during the project is described. The fifth section focuses on implications for practice emerging from the research findings. Appendices include descriptions of proposals for the project, a list of proposal reviewers, a sample proposal review form, and research project summaries. (JD)