A report to the Mayor from the Advisory Commission on Postsecondary Education, focusing on improving public postsecondary education in the District of Columbia, is presented. The three issues involved are: (1) many postsecondary education services are being offered by many different agencies and institutions in the city, but there is no one central entity charged with coordinating and developing them; (2) policy and plans for public postsecondary education have been developed in an ad hoc fashion, and they have generally not evolved within a comprehensive plan that would allow orderly and productive change; and (3) one major concern for most of those who testified before the Commission was the plight of children who are dropping out of the educational system at an early age. Challenges addressed include preventing dropouts, providing opportunity ladders up from poverty, making occupational and social mobility possible, reducing income and class differences, responding to the District's employment needs, and succeeding through education. Recommendations by the Commission include establishing an education commission or board to coordinate education policy development, reorganizing the postsecondary functions that are now within several agencies into one statewide office, developing a comprehensive system of public postsecondary education under the Board of Trustees of the University of the District of Columbia, and developing a plan to publicize the achievements of the District's educational institutions. Contains about 105 references. (SM)