The four papers in a symposium on the cost effectiveness of community schools are presented here, with a brief introduction. The first paper outlines the procedures necessary for an analysis of cost-effectiveness and identifies the problems in applying this analysis to community schools, including variable selection and measurement and value judgments. The second paper illustrates an analysis of cost-effectiveness of a single community school in Atlantic City, New Jersey. From data collected on the school's costs and services, the author concludes that this community school is relatively cost effective. In the third paper, the researcher applies a similar analysis to a regional community school in Maine and finds that cost effectiveness varies among programs in the school. The fourth paper discusses a statewide analysis of cost-effectiveness of all community schools in Texas. Its authors find that the amount of the schools' expenditures correlates positively with the number of their activities and that the state's community schools as a whole are cost effective. (Author/RW)