This report documents the activities from October, 1976, to February, 1977, of the Research & Policy Interpretations Contractor, a support service to the Research and Development Exchange. Products during this period included contributions to the tracking system and anecdotal success story activities, and a state of the art review of promising practices. Also included in the report are the plan for Phase II, and a record of the contractor's participation in system meetings. The report is supplemented by five appendices. The first includes comments on tracking with specific comments upon the Dissemination Status Request form used in Phase I, and a list of specifications for tracking NIE Sponsored Projects. Appendix B is a statement of preliminary guidelines for writing anecdotal success stories. Appendices C and D deal with planning for Phase II, the goal of which is to improve rationality of policy decisions. Flow charts describe the response, proactive, and feedforward functions of Phase II. Operational plans detail objectives, target audiences, functions, and operations for Phase II. Appendix E indicates preliminary procedures and provides prototype instruments for identifying and collecting evaluative information about promising practices. It summarizes some current activities to identify, validate, and/or disseminate promising practices. It also outlines a plan for developing a national file of validated promising practices designed to build on current activities. (WBC)