By Florida law, coordinating councils in all 28 community college districts have been established to coordinate and articulate vocational-technical education, adult general education, and community instructional service programs between the community colleges and secondary schools. These councils are charged with reviewing existing programs and with making recommendations to encourage the development of needed offerings and/or the alteration of duplicated offerings. In order to determine which councils were most effective in carrying out their mandated functions, council meeting minutes were studied, a questionnaire was mailed to all 190 members of the 20 active coordinating councils in 1974-75 (the 144 responses represent a 76 percent response rate), and personal interviews were conducted with the chairmen of community college boards of trustees and school boards. Specifically investigated were: (1) the nature of council goals; (2) the operating procedures; and (3) the behavior and qualifications of council members. In spite of a general agreement as to the potential impact of the councils, most of the existing councils were considered ineffective in carrying out their mandated functions. In order to improve council effectiveness, a list of guidelines is compiled in this document for adopting and implementing effective council procedures and practices. (NHM)