A summary of the National Institute of Education's anthology by the same title, this publication reviews 13 articles that discuss current shifts in school enrollment and their impact on the educational system. Topics covered include the demographic background to declining enrollments; the fiscal effects of decline; the management of decline; local, state, and federal policies; management techniques; and state aid. The paper concludes that there is no one best scenario for the management of decline. The authors anticipate a more pluralistic response to retrenchment, one that depends upon flexibility rather than standardization. According to them, forced responses to shifting enrollments may well bring about some of the innovative experimentation federal initiatives failed to produce. (Author/WD)