The National Report Card (NRC) evaluates and compares the extent to which state finance systems ensure equality of educational opportunity for all children, regardless of background, family income, place of residence, or school location. It is designed to provide policymakers, educators, business leaders, parents, and the public at large with information to better understand the fairness of existing state school finance systems and how resources are allocated so problems can be identified and solutions developed. The NRC is unique among comparative school funding reports because it goes beyond simple per pupil calculations. To capture the complex differences among states, the NRC constructs four interrelated fairness measures--Funding Level, Funding Distribution, Effort and Coverage--that allow for comparisons that control for regional differences. [For the fifth edition, see ED570361.]