This report contains four papers written during an investigation of methods for evaluating the safety of existing school buildings under Research Applied to National Needs (RANN) grants. In "Evaluation of Earthquake Safety of Existing Buildings," by B. Bresler, preliminary ideas on the evaluation of the earthquake safety of existing buildings are described. The second paper, "Assessment of Earthquake Safety and of Hazard Abatement," by B. Bresler, T. Okada, and D. Zisling, discusses methods for assessing the seismic safety of structures and procedures for establishing priorities for evaluating and abating hazards are indicated. The third paper, "Seismic Safety of Existing Low-Rise Reinforced Concrete Buildings," by T. Okada and B. Bresler, describes a methodology for evaluating the seismic safety of low-rise reinforced concrete buildings and its application to existing school buildings. The fourth paper, "Design and Engineering Decisions: Failure Criteria (Limit States)," by V. Bertero and B. Bresler, discusses the failure criteria (inadmissable limit states) that should be considered in aseismic design of buildings. (Author/MLF)