A special attempt was made to organize this document in terms of the requirements of its readership (members of the Commission on Children, White House Conference, 1980). To this end, the first section, entitled "Gaining Perspective," provides an overview of developments, expectations, issues, dynamics, culture shock, and future trends in education. The second section, "Emerging Needs and Issues," is more detailed in order to provide indepth coverage of four competing categories of educational emphasis: the disabled/handicapped child, the gifted child, the "normal" child, and poor and minority children. Each of these sections has been further organized around subsections on legislation/litigation, issues, sources of stress, and impending changes. (Author/IRT)