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To help educators improve their school public relations (PR) programs, this handbook tells them how to identify and communicate with "special publics" and how to evaluate their communication efforts. An introductory overview points out that two-thirds to three-quarters of the adult population have no children in school and that schools need to reach these publics. Chapter 1 recommends beginning by analyzing the community and the district's existing PR efforts, categorizing and prioritizing the publics, preparing district staff, pushing community involvement, writing PR plans, and ensuring that PR activities have adequate resources. The special publics enumerated in chapter 2, include the business and real estate communities, religious institutions, senior citizens, community organizations, government agencies, higher education institutions, private schools, and youth groups. Chapter 3 discusses how to reach these publics using information dissemination (including speakers, school visits, and the mass media), advocacy groups for public education, campaigns on school issues, community expertise for instruction and management assistance, and learning assistance (both for and from schools). Evaluation methods suggested in chapter 4 include an "early warning system" to monitor public attitudes, community surveys, and PR assessment groups. The final chapter briefly summarizes the handbook. (RW)