In this edition of "Conditions of Education" six of the leading academic authorities on education policy in California address the key issues facing the state's education system, focusing their attention on critical indicators of current performance and on specific policy changes that would lead to sustained improvement. They identify benchmarks that can be tracked over time, including indicators of system performance and also indicators of policy progress toward comprehensive educational reform. Conditions of California Education, 2008, an introduction by David N. Plank, is presented. This publication contains the following chapters: (1) Benchmarking Improvements for Students of Color and English Learners (Patricia Gandara and Megan Hopkins); (2) California's Teachers (Susanna Loeb and Marsha Ing); (3) Lifting Low-Achieving Students and Schools (Bruce Fuller and Lynette Parker); (4) Dreams and Leaks, Reforms and Band-Aids: The Transition From High School to Postsecondary Education (W. Norton Grubb); (5) Financing California's Public Schools (Jon Sonstelie); and (6) Revisiting the "Crazy Quilt": Recent Developments in California's Educational Governance (Dominic J. Brewer, Icela Pelayo and June Ahn). Individual chapters contain tables, figures, endnotes and references.