Recognizing that successful collaboration among schools, institutes of higher education, and state education agencies to is an important factor in the professional development of education personnel, this document examines existing knowledge of interorganizational collaboration and identifies organizational preconditions conducive to the initiation and continuation of collaborative endeavors. Using information drawn from related literature written between 1970 and 1986, the document describes attributes of effective interorganizational collaboration such as promotive interdependence, a balanced interchange of valued commodities, a continuously renegotiated pluralistic order, continuous environmental scanning and adaptation, and a multifaceted enabling framework. The organizational preconditions identified that may increase the organizations' capacity to collaborate well include: (1) the existence of internal objectives that foster mutual goal attainment; (2) the conduct of a comprehensive assessment of valued commodities for interchange; (3) the existence of organizational values conducive to managing promotive interdependence; (4) institutionalized processes for conducting environmental scanning and strategic planning; and (5) administrative commitment, knowledge, and support. (45 references) (CLA)