This compilation of tables and a brief text on the states' educational programs emphasizes demographic and fiscal background information. Public school system characteristics by state show the following: number of school districts, number enrolled, school age population estimates, percent of persons age 5-17 years in households below the poverty line, percent of minority enrollment, and public and private school enrollment. Population characteristics include per capita income, percent of adults with 4 years of high school, place of residence (central cities or rural areas), percent voting for President, percent voting for Congress, and resident population per square mile. State resources include gross state product, relative tax capacity, and a grouping of states in five categories of relative wealth. A glossary explains each table. States' educational policies and programs include length of school day and year, monitoring of engaged learning time, students' mandatory entrance and exit ages, instructional programs in kindergarten, graduation requirements, and graduation requirements in core subjects. Teacher preparation includes coursework and assessment requirements and alternative routes of teacher preparation. The final section summarizes effective schooling programs in each state and concludes with a note on future efforts to obtain state-level measures of student outcomes. (MLF)