Special efforts were made by all projects to include disenfranchised members of society, including minority groups and other groups who do not see themselves as being served by educational institutions. In the 13 projects, over 13,000 people were included in the process.Valid visions reflect the diversity of society. They reflect the demographic backgrounds and cultural identities of their creators. Valid visions do not attempt to homogenize: rather, they seek to capitalize on the strengths of diversity. This book is made up of four chapters, each organized around key questions about stages of the visioning process: Chapter 1, Visioning the Future, examines the need for change in education today, including what is wrong with the status quo, what is needed for improvement, and how various groups in society imagine the future. The concept of visioning is distinguished from past strategic planning approaches. Chapter 2, Building Community, discusses identifying and recruiting diverse participants for the visioning process, leadership in the visioning effort, and the challenge of attaining institutional change. Chapter 3, Creating a Valid Vision, introduces techniques to stimulate creativity. It describes in detail specific visioning activities, and the need to maintain diverse viewpoints. Chapter 4, Implementing the Vision, describes how FSPE projects will go about building their visions, assessing their strategies, and communicating their results. Implications for institutional change are highlighted. The visioning process relied on thousands of individuals, who were willing to give freely of their time and energy. The voices of many of these people - some educators, some not — appear on the pages of this book. Some voices sound apprehensive; others are eager. All convey a deep conviction that educational institutions can and must change to meet people's needs, especially as we take on the complex problems of the new century. Visions are the beginning of long-term change. The visioning process is in many ways the creation of new community - people committed to working together to create and then fulfill the vision. Visions are the means to bring about institutional transformation. This book documents the initial visioning step in the process of change and maps the many roads the FSPE projects plan to travel to reach their respective visions.