In order to improve desegregation of the elementary schools, and the low achievement level of elementary schools with high concentrations of poor and minority students, the Massachusetts Board of Education placed a coordinated approach to improving urban schools first among its objectives. The following educational objectives were set for each school: (1) strengthening overall educational leadership; (2) identifying student strengths and needs, and providing programs and services to meet them; and (3) enabling school staff to acquire additional skills to manage and make coordinated, effective use of local, state, and Federal resources. Lessons from Massachusetts' desegregation efforts and from compensatory programs are discussed. Efforts to improve education should be focused on the school, not the school system or the student. The development of a coordinated strategy to improve education is outlined, and the state-level actions necessary for implementing such a strategy are identified. A brief list of references is included. (BJV)