While the federal government has always been a junior partner to state and local agencies in financing and operating public schools, the impact of federal policies on schools continues to be a topic of debate by researchers, policymakers, and the public. This paper reviews the rapidly expanding but dispersed literature on federal involvement in elementary and secondary education and documents and assesses implications of the ascendancy of the federal leadership or "bully pulpit" role. State and local implementation of long standing federally sponsored categorical programs had by the 1980s in many instances moved beyond the mutual adaptation stage generally portrayed in research anthologies. Recent national studies describe reduced intergovernmental conflicts, greater emphasis on program improvement rather than on strict compliance, and programs customized to fit local circumstances. The Reagan Administration's qualitatively different use of the bully pulpit as a major, independent policy strategy has been inadequately examined by researchers. Future research on the federal role in the 1980s can contribute to literature on differential federal strategies. Researchers on the federal role in education should conduct assessments of origins and effects of modern use of the bully pulpit strategy to understand fully the effects of the administration's education policy. Ninety-four footnotes are appended. (CJH)