A blueprint for Educational Resource Agents (ERA's) has been compiled by a consortium consisting of the National Federation for the Improvement of Rural Education, Tuskegee Institute, New Mexico State University, University of North Dakota, Northwest Regional Educational Lab., Southwestern Cooperative Educational Lab., Appalachia Educational Lab., and Southeastern Education Lab. A 42-month cooperative thrust is proposed to train 48 recruits as ERA's. Design stresses effective communication within a rural, culturally limited, minority school setting with a high degree of generalizability for the urban counterpart. Program elements include performance criteria/accountability; 1-week key staff training at Tuskegee Institute; 2-week common core teaching; rotation of participants through all field, lab, and campus components; 4-week rotational internship in rural schools and kindred agencies settings; and a trends seminar. Recruits from 3 test states with heavy minority populations (Alabama, Black; New Mexico, Chicano/Indian; and North Dakota, Indian) will be educators who are high communicators having peer acceptance from target populations. Purposive dissemination and internal-external evaluation are built-in. National needs and job opportunities for ERA's have been established via the Clark and Hopkins survey. (Author/BO)