Beginning with a review of signs and signals of public attitudes toward American education over the last 15 years, this paper analyzes some concerns regarding public confidence in public schools. Following a brief introduction, issues involved in the definition and behavioral attributes of confidence are mentioned. A synopsis of three approaches to confidence building--communications, public relations, and marketing--is followed by a review of research, theory, and reported practice on school-community relations and communications. A description is then given of a pilot survey conducted by the Phi Delta Kappa Commission for Developing Public Confidence in Schools in which commission members distributed survey cards to graduate students, parents, school personnel, and others in Ohio, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Indiana to obtain additional information as to what causes people either to gain or to lose confidence in education. Preliminary results show that of the 23 categories included in the survey, "teacher attitudes" was ranked by the 148 respondents as the most important for both gains and losses in their confidence in schools. These results indicate that educators must (1) pay more attention to affective strategies and less to cognitive-oriented approaches, and (2) expand their confidence-building tools into areas suggested by public relations and marketing. A two-page bibliography, extensive tables, and three appendixes are included. (JBM)