This report summarizes a two-volume study focusing on state administration of selected federal education programs and federal and state interactions surrounding programs for special pupils. Federal programs and civil rights provisions examined include four titles of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, the Vocational Education Act of 1963, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Findings drawn from an analysis of federal program requirements, documentary material, and personal interviews with over 300 individuals at the state and local levels in eight states indicate that while the federal education programs examined did not have a great impact on the states' political environments, federal and state program interactions are robust and diverse, without the intense conflicts expected from popular accounts. Current federal education strategies emerging from the study include the following trade-offs: requiring a basic level of uniformity across the states that initially induces greater intergovernmental conflict; granting more decision-making discretion to the states, resulting in wider program variation but less conflict; and bypassing state-level administrative structures, thereby relinquishing a strong impact on state actions but minimizing potential conflict. (JBM)