The purpose of this guidebook is to give recognition to some of California's effective schools and, more importantly, to encourage interschool visiting. Emphasizing that organization leads to productivity, specific suggestions as to how to use the book and how to plan school visits are provided. Listed alphabetically and by county, section I provides a roster of schools with promising practices in compensatory education and Miller-Unruh Reading Programs. Section II contains an inventory of program strengths on which validation teams rate the schools. Among the criteria considered are nonisolation of disadvantaged students, auxiliary services, staff development, intergroup relations, and affirmative action. A section providing facts about the schools describes ethnic content, target students, socio-economic background, staffing, and funds follows. Section IV provides a listing of other schools and special projects suggested by various program units within the State Department of Education. Among these are incentive grant programs, programs providing alternative solutions to educational needs and problems, demonstration programs in reading and mathematics, library-media projects, and environmental education programs and projects. A directory of career education project sites is provided. The greatest value of this guidebook is seen to be for interschool visiting with the purpose of learning as much as possible about the process by which the improvement in measured achievement of disadvantaged students is achieved. (Author/AM)