This report focuses on some of the changes that have taken place in the American family over the last several decades. In order to produce reform efforts that will achieve the six National Education Goals, communities need to understand how family life has changed in recent years and why the schools need to be redesigned to fit the way today's children and families live and work. First a statistical "snapshot" of today's families and today's children in given. Statistics, provided in bulleted and tabular form, are given in these areas: (1) marriage and divorce; (2) birth rate; (3) married couple versus single parent families; (4) parents' employment (labor force participation); (5) children in poverty and female-headed households; (6) educational achievement of parents and youth; and (7) drug use among high school seniors. Tables and graphs are provided in the appendix. (ABL)