This handbook provides P-16 council leaders with a toolkit of background information and proposed procedures for structuring and guiding implementation of Business-Higher Education Forum's (BHEF) proposed action plan. Specifically, it details a four-part nationwide action plan to improve overall pre-kindergarten through high school (P-12) mathematics and science achievement in America through sweeping and coordinated changes in entire education systems. The BHEF plan recognizes that a P-12 education system cannot improve itself by itself. New directions and improved performance in P-12 education is dependent upon corresponding new directions and improved performance in higher education. Higher education and the business community must join the P-12 community as equal partners in implementing a systems approach to improving P-12 education. The BHEF calls upon business and higher education leaders--and, through them, policymakers--to commit to new and collaborative roles to improve the teaching and learning of P-12 mathematics and science. The BHEF also urges business and higher education leaders to champion the promising initiatives already begun by P-12 educators and to work with them to develop and implement new strategies, policies, and programs that will raise the mathematics and science achievement of all of America's students. The four actions of the BHEF plan are: (1) Establish a P-16 education council in each state.; (2) Simultaneously address and align the five P-12 system components; (3) Engage business and higher education in more effective P-12 reform roles; and (4) Implement coordinated national and state-specific public information programs. This handbook, designed for business, higher education, and policy leaders, provides a research foundation for the actions proposed, offers experience-based guidelines for the structure and agenda of a P-16 council, examines the current state of efforts to improve the components of state education systems, suggests goals and procedures for coordinated and lasting improvement of state systems of mathematics and science education, and highlights effective projects and resources. Eight chapters comprise this handbook. Chapter 1 (Leading System Change: Structure and Goals of a P-16 Council) presents the case for the establishment of a P-16 system approach to improving P-12 mathematics and science education. Chapter 2 (P-12 Student Content Standards in Mathematics and Science) traces the emergence of standards--statements of what all students should know and be able to do--as the foundation of P-12 education in America. Chapter 3 (P-12 Curricula in Mathematics and Science) establishes the need for high-quality P-12 core curricula in mathematics and science for all students. Chapter 4 (P-12 Student Assessment in Mathematics and Science) deals with a component of state systems of education currently undergoing considerable change, a direct result of the federal government's No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Chapter 5 (P-12 Teacher Quality) documents the central role of well-educated, highly committed, and well-supported teachers in the success of students. Chapter 6 (System Accountability) refocuses attention on the BHEF objective to improve the system of education. The chapter's title speaks to the need to hold the entire P-16 system accountable for P-12 students' performance in mathematics and science. Chapter 7 (Roles for Business and Higher Education) outlines new directions and opportunities for the engagement of business and higher education communities in long-term, high-impact, system-wide efforts to improve the mathematics and science achievement of all students. Finally, Chapter 8 (Coordinated National and State Public Information Programs) discusses the need for a sustained, five-year public information programs to gain sweeping public commitment to strengthen the mathematics and science education of all students. A glossary is provided. (Contains 4 figures and 200 endnotes.) [Financial support for the Forum Mathematics and Science Education Initiative was provided by the Dow Chemical Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation Inc., Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and Pharmacia Corporation.]