This document is an abstract of a joint meeting between National Institute of Education (NIE) and National Education Association (NEA) staff. The document is organized around four ideas discussed at the meeting. The first is the political constituency for NIE; that is, the program of NIE must be made relevant and visible to educational practitioners. The second is the idea of the teacher craftsman: as teachers know more about teaching than anyone else, there should be an organized effort to identify "the great craftsman teacher" and devise mechanisms to get at and replicate this craftsmanship. It is added that teacher involvement would be more readily achieved if it were made a part of U.S. Office of Education guidelines. The third idea presented, teacher participation in NIE, is based on the belief that teachers represent a great pool of expertise. It is proposed that teachers recognized by their peers be considered for membership on a "council of instruction." Finally, possible NIE-NEA cooperation is discussed. Two activities are particularly considered: a) creating a new position of "instructional ombudsman"--a teacher given administrative preparation by both NEA and NIE to move back into a school district, preferably the one from which he or she came--and b) providing teachers with information on what kinds of resources are available to accomplish a particular type of learning. (JA)