The purpose of the Neighborhood Education Center (NEC) Project, funded under Title III of the 1965 Elementary Secondary Education Act, is to significantly raise academic achievement in the areas of language arts and computational skills. The NEC encompasses four elementary schools in Region 8 of the Detroit Public Schools system. This region serves approximately 75,000 persons, providing direct service to a pupil population of 31,000. Enrollment in Region 8 schools is predominantly black. The following are some of the features unique to schools in the NEC Project: (1) Instructional plan that embodies the concept of individualization of instruction in a manner that provides diagnostic and prescriptive assistance to each pupil; (2) Teachers and pupils are organized in a series of instructional units with four teachers to each group of 66 pupils; (3) Teachers are recruited and assigned on the basis of demonstrated expertise and commitment to the critical conceptual and operational elements of the project; (4) Duly elected community representatives serve on Planning and Evaluation Councils with direct access to the educational process; and, (5) There is an intensive and extensive program of in-service education during regular and after-school hours. (Author/JM)