The parents' guide in English and Spanish versions, offers a synthesis of the Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory's (McRel) "A+chieving Excellence," a 480-page manual on educational decision-making and management. Four sections examine four broad areas in which policies must be established for improving student achievement--efficiency, effectiveness, excellence, and leadership and organizational development. Each policy area presents three possible strategies that can direct change. Accompanying each strategy are short descriptions of research-based methods for achieving some aspect of school improvement. The first section provides strategies for building an organization that will support change, monitor implementation, and establish a site-based decision-making process. A school's use of instructional time to maximize the amount of student learning time is examined in the second section. Section 3 looks at the extent to which students are successful in class, regardless of socioeconomic, gender, and racial differences. The last section explores how schools can be redesigned to make learning relevant to the needs of students who will be living in the 21st century. (Contains 71 references.) (LMI)