In the professorial role's traditional triad of teaching, research, and service, research (publishing) and teaching get more attention than service. If professors are to be part of improving education in America's schools, they must define service more broadly, and they must give greater attention to the service role. Education should be conceptualized as a profession of practice, and it should be a profession that embodies its practice in a statement of professional ethics and behavior. Real educational improvement will come only when educators use what is known (the knowledge base for teaching), evaluate it carefully, extend it, and continue a research agenda built on education issues. Education administration (EDAD) professors should teach research results from education research and can influence the technical core of education. Professors have a major service role to play in improving education and in making sure that improvement rests on what research has shown to be effective. They also have a major service role to play in helping shape public opinion about education. Once research has developed a reasonably sound knowledge base for education, a concerted national leadership needs to advocate that these advances be implemented. Professorial service roles linked to this advocacy include: (1) conducting policy research; (2) assisting in local applications of the knowledge base; (3) publishing nonresearch as service; (4) giving attention to what does not work and what does work to help guide practitioners; and (5) exerting leadership for strong moral standards. Three appendixes discuss problem formulation, key elements of business and education, and an example of the potential of education for malpractice. An attachment presents a group activity related to education malpractice. (Contains 2 tables and 17 references.) (SLD)