Written for both educators and business people, this document provides guidelines for business-education collaboration. The guide defines the characteristics of business-education partnerships that effectively promote school improvement and describes the stages a partnership undergoes as it progresses to a fully developed collaborative effort. The guide contains four chapters. Chapter I provides an overview of partnerships and the benefits that can be achieved through business involvement in school improvement. Chapter II presents a model for the stages of partnership development. Chapter III provides practical guidelines for establishing and maintaining partnerships for school improvement. Chapter IV describes partnership activity in the Northeast/Islands region and includes profiles of noteworthy partnerships, as well as a listing of contact information for additional partnerships. Finally, the appendix contains a list of print and organizational resources. (KC)