This document's three-fold purpose is to give guidance to schools that will be using technical assistance, to raise important considerations for those resource units that provide such assistance, and to point out areas of concern to Pennsylvania Department of Education planners. Included are four articles by University of Pittsburgh faculty members on the role of technical assistance in facilitating the use of various kinds of knowledge in the school improvement planning process. Evelyn Fisher's "Long Range Planning for School Improvement: Technical Assistance" outlines the function of technical assistance in relation to knowledge use facilitation and provides a conceptual framework for the remaining articles. Jean Winsand's "Knowledge Use, Decision Types and Stakeholders: Implications for School Improvement" examines the Planning Guidelines for School Improvement with reference to knowledge utilization theory and discusses the process of technical assistance. Charles Gorman's "A Perspective on the Future of School Improvement in Pennsylvania" examines School Improvement Plan assumptions relative to technical assistance and speculates on the future of such assistance in school improvement. Finally, Burkart Holzner and Evelyn Fisher's "Knowledge in Use: Considerations in Sociology of Knowledge Application" offers more in-depth information concerning knowledge use literature. (JBM)