This handbook contains broad guidelines for increasing cooperation among business, industry, labor, governmental agencies, professionals, parents, students, and educators through the creation of business/industry/education partnerships. The material is designed primarily to provide a framework for building or improving such partnerships or councils rather than to develop a rigid set of instructions for operating councils. Focus is on how to develop community, regional, and state mechanisms to serve as links between the labor force and education. An introduction lists what individuals as well as businesses and industries can do in partnership efforts. The second section on forming business/industry/education councils covers setting objectives, council management, the role of the state coordinator, and council functions. The relationship of the partnership council to other community and educational councils is then briefly addressed. Section 4 discusses several broad categories and examples of council activities, including instruction and curriculum development, resource workshops, inservice training, career guidance, materials and service functions, educational management, shadowing suggestions, and adopt-a-school programs. The final section is a one-page state-of-the-art summary for partnerships among business, industry, and education. The appendix contains an historical perspective for Alabama's business/industry/education partnerships. (YLB)