An overview of basic information needed for exercising educational leadership is provided in this handbook. The first section reviews demographic influences, economic influences, social and political forces, and what all of these influences mean for policy makers. The optimum conditions under which students learn are discussed in the second section. Characteristics of good teachers and good schools are listed in the third section. The fourth section describes six areas in which recent major reports have indicated a need for reform: educational goals, cooperation among institutions and agencies, access to knowledge, the formal curriculum, the hidden curriculum, and student achievement. The fifth section focuses on the nature of schools as developing organisms and on methods that schools can use to enhance and direct their development. Methods that states and districts can employ to help schools improve are examined in the sixth section. Publications produced by the Education Commission of the States on teachers and teaching, school improvement, educational excellence, student achievement, law and education, school finance, governance, higher education, and other topics are listed in the seventh section. Appendixes present statistics on educational costs and enrollments. (PGD)