The Statewide Systems Change Project for the Severely Handicapped was a federally funded project established to develop activities to improve the quality of special education and related services for learners with severe handicaps and to encourage a change in service delivery from segregated to integrated environments. The project identified best educational practices and implemented them within a delivery system involving an agency for preschoolers with severe handicaps, a special education program for elementary-aged learners, and a regular integrated education program. Guidelines for systems change are presented in the areas of philosophy, assessment, instruction, related services, staff development, and administration. Appendices, which comprise the bulk of the guidelines, include: best educational practice statements, a sample philosophy statement, activities for promoting acceptance among participants in integrating learners with severe handicaps, age-appropriate opportunities for integration, an ecological inventory, functional curriculum concepts, community-based instruction, intervention strategies, instructional goals, a needs assessment instrument, a strategy for staff development, a policy and procedures review of special education programs, a transition procedure, a neighborhood preschool physical facilities checklist, community services survey, information on working with a steering committee, and an evaluation framework. Forty references, a list of films used in the project, and a glossary conclude the work. (JDD)