A relatively systemic approach to education reform emerged in the 1990s as one way of addressing policy fragmentation. This volume contains the case studies from a study that sought to: (1) expand knowledge of state approaches to systemic education reform; (2) examine district, school, and teacher responses to state reform policies in a small number of reforming schools and school districts; (3) identify challenges at the state, district, school, and classroom levels to reforming education; (4) examine the capacity of the educational system to support education reform; and (5) provide guidance to policymakers at all levels of the education system as they design and implement education reform policies. The volume contains case-study information on 12 reforming schools located in 6 school districts in 3 states undergoing systemic reform--California, Michigan, and Vermont. The study targeted mathematics, reading, and writing instruction in grades 4-8. Each section describes state reform efforts (the state context and the components of reforms), district reform efforts, and teacher and school-reform activities. (Contains 34 references.) (LMI)