A decline of faith in the efficacy of education has been furthered by the perceived failure of social action programs to reduce poverty and assure racial justice and by the educational research purporting to show that the impact of schools is slight compared to other factors. One response open to educators is to consider policies other than those customarily employed by educators to affect education outcomes. Three such areas--policies associated with improving health and nutrition, eradicating income poverty, and improving housing or promoting economic or racial integration--and how they affect school performance are examined here. In each case the results are equivocal--the policies may have some effect on education outcomes, but the evidence is too flawed to rely on. Policy-makers generally choose one of three courses in using research in the formation of policy--"least risk,""best bet," and "winning line.""Winning line" is the correct approach. In this approach one has more-or-less well-defined goals and formulates policy by asking in what states of the world those goals can be achieved. One then proceeds as if those states of the world existed. (Author/IRT)