This paperback book reports progress in developing minicourses (short, self-instructional courses designed to train teachers in specific classroom skills) to show how these courses can make a significant contribution to the present system of teacher education and describes how research and development is used in education, using the minicourse program as an example. Part 1, focusing on the model and first minicourse, has five chapters: 1) "Teacher Education--A New Direction"; 2) "Research Related to the Minicourse Model" (microteaching, technical-skills approach, modeling, practice and feedback); 3) "Initial Development of Minicourse 1" (designed to increase the effectiveness of discussion and questioning techniques of intermediate-grade teachers); 4) "The Main Field Test"; and 5) "Later Stages of Minicourse Development." Part 2 traces development of second generation minicourses: 6) "The Laboratory's Growing Resources; 7) "Minicourse 2: Developing Language Skills; 8) "Minicourse 3: Effective Questioning in a Classroom Discussion--Secondary Level"; 9) "Minicourse 5: Tutoring in Mathematics"; and 10) "Minicourse 8: Organizing the Kindergarten for Independent Learning and Small-Group Instruction." Chapters in part 3 describe the third generation of minicourses: 11) Developing and Improving Instructional Models"; 12) "Moving Toward a System of Teacher Education"; and 13) "Educational Research and Development and Educational Change." (JS)