Concerning The Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1972, there is new Federal emphasis on compensatory education to help disadvantaged children. This report takes the position that compensatory education can be made to work, and that the application of concentrated compensatory resources (usually at higher dollar costs) in basic learning programs enhances the probability of success in compensatory education. To substantiate this claim, this report investigates whether one may conclude from existing compensatory education programs that reasonable numbers of disadvantaged children in these programs have learned more effectively. To this end, compensatory education programs in various States across the country are evaluated in light of State reports and large scale evaluations of several cities. The programs are evaluated in terms of educational resources, achievement gains, program strategy implications. ["The urgent need for experimentation," by John P. Gilbert and Frederick Mosteller," reprinted from "On equality of educational opportunity," edited by Daniel P. Moynihan and Frederick Mosteller, and comprising "Appendix U of this document, has been deleted from this document.] (Authors/SB)