Thirteen articles, with an introduction, focus on the overall nature and effect of federal involvement in education and suggest what the federal role ought to be. The first five articles examine federal policy dilemmas in the areas of federal educational expenditures, fragmentation of federal programs, elementary and secondary education, criteria for the federal role, and categorical programs for the disadvantaged. The relationship between federal and state roles in education, including the impact of the new U.S. Department of Education, is examined in the next three articles. Finally, five authors present various prescriptions for federal educational policies in the 1980s. These articles include a review of the 1980 Democratic and Republican platform planks on education, a plea for changes in federal requirements for local accountability, a conservative critique of the Department of Education, a suggestion for improving coordination among federal elementary and secondary programs, and an assessment of the effects of future economic, technological, demographic, governmental, and cultural trends on federal education policies. (RW)