This report presents and discusses recommended actions concerning critical issues facing higher education in Missouri. Four main issues are addressed. The first concerns admissions policies and has two parts: (1) What public policies, standards, and expectations should Missouri promote to ensure that its high school students are well prepared for further study and the world of work? and (2) What should be the distinctive admission policies of Missouri's public four-year institutions and community colleges in providing instruction to a diverse student body? The other three issues are as follows: What public policies are necessary to ensure that Missouri's postsecondary educational system addresses critical state needs and promotes institutional diversity with a minimum of program duplication? What public policies are necessary to ensure an efficient effective, and accountable system of postsecondary education in Missouri? and What new structures, if any, should be established and what additional powers should be assigned to a central state-level agency to ensure a coordinated, balanced, and cost-effective postsecondary educational system of the highest quality? Recommendations are outlined under each main issue, and for each main issue, several goals are identified and defined as measures of success. The appendix provides six references for suggested goals. Also included as an attachment is the report of an ad hoc implementation committee set up to review the task force's work and outlining proposed refinements and clarifications of the original report's goal statements and measures of success. (GLR)