「教育優先區」是我國當前教育改革深受囑目的課題，其目的在於促進教育機會均等、提昇國民教育品質。由於國人對於「教育優先區」的理念仍多隔閡，增進國人對「教育優先區」理念的了解，頗有必要。補償教育方案的實施，是過去三十年來美國社會促進教育機會均等的最佳範例。六十年代以來，美國全國與地方層次為出身貧困家庭或少數族裔的學童，提供了大規模的教育服務方案，以補償這些學童在智能與社會發展方面的缺憾不足。美國補償教育方案的實施，已經累積了相當長期的經驗，對於我國「教育優先區」工作的規劃推展，或許有值得參考之處。基於此種認識，本文先就美國補償教育方案的背景、內涵、實施、與檢討等部份進行考察，並就立論基礎、目標對象、政策的制度化、聯邦政府的關鍵角色、各級政府的協調合作、方案設計與實施的深受重視、對方案進行長期評估的重要性等方面，探討美國補償教育方案對我國的啟示。

Setting up the "educational priority areas", as a theme of deep concern to the crurent wave of educational reform, IS intended to facilitate the equity of educational opportunities and to advance the quality of educational outcomes. With the recognition that not many of us know much about the idea of "educational priority areas", this author believes that it is imperative for us to gain more understanding in this regard. The implementation of compensatory education programs in the United States for the past thirty years has served to illustrate a paradigm of social design for equity. Through the installation of large-scale educational programs, the U. S. governments at all levels have joined the efforts since the 1960s to compensate for the deficiencies in the cognitive and social skills of minority students or those from low socioeconomic backgrounds. The U.S. experiences in the implementation of compensatory education programs may well carry useful implications for the planning of• educational priority areas in this country. For this very reason, the study will first examine the U. S. compensatory education in terms of its background, provisions, implementation, and evaluation. The implications of the U. S. compensatory education for the planning of educational priority areas in this country will then be considered.