The aim of this guide is to help state education agencies (SEAs) find effective ways to improve relations between schools and their communities. Focusing particularly on the Northeast and New England, the document reviews literature on school-community relations and presents numerous examples of school-community interaction. First, the author looks at how schools are embedded in communities, especially at how schools and communities share resources, solve mutual problems, and plan collaboratively to reach shared goals. Next she presents examples both of barriers to effective school-community relations--such as miscommunication, limited resources, or problems in educational structure or state regulation--and of how educators have overcome some of the barriers. Finally the guide considers ways that SEAs are helping schools overcome communication, resource, structural, and state regulatory barriers. Appended is a 33-page annotated bibliography that contains 201 document references. Included are pieces covering school-community relations in general, case studies, and "how-to" manuals and guides, as well as a list of 20 public and private resource agencies. (Author/RW)