The 1983 publication of "A Nation at Risk" began a new reevaluation of American schooling. The issues raised in that and several more recent reports are summarized and discussed in this preface to the ERIC volume, "Trends and Issues in Education, 1986." This paper offers observations and reflections on the issues presented in that volume and maintains that questions of educational reform must be considered in the context of a society which has undergone and continues to undergo drastic changes affecting schools and the schooling process. Recent changes and their significance are considered in the following areas: (1) equity and excellence; (2) early childhood and elementary education; (3) curriculum and subjects taught; (4) English; (5) sciences; (6) foreign languages; (7) vocational and career education; (8) adult literacy; (9) teachers and teaching; (10) special education; (11) gifted students; (12) urban and minority education; (13) education and information technology; (14) testing, measurement and evaluation; (15) guidance and counseling; (16) higher education; and (17) non-school education agencies. Educators must also ask whether America's schools produce persons who can fulfill their own potential, and, if not, what must be done to ensure that they do in the years ahead. (PS)