This handbook provides an introduction to school-age child care for North Carolina public schools, an annotated bibliography on school-age child care, and information on before- and after-school child care programs in public schools. The introductory Section I focuses on the need for school-age child care and the public school's role in providing it. Section II covers initial steps in starting a program. Section III extensively discusses program planning and early implementation, dealing with philosophy and goals, types of programs, operational policies, financial management, start-up and long-range budgets, insurance, site selection, publicity and recruitment, enrollment, personnel, child health and safety policies, social and emotional aspects of programs, program activities, programming for young adolescents, space design and equipment, scheduling, and working with parents. Section IV concerns ongoing program and improvement evaluations. Section V provides a chart detailing characteristics of programs in North Carolina, and briefly reports findings of a survey of before- and after-school programs operated by school districts. Section VI consists of the 73-item annotated bibliography; citations are listed under the headings of: (1) latchkey children; (2) administration and programming; (3) school-age child development; (4) activities; (5) staff development; (6) audiovisual resources. Six journals/newsletters and 17 resource addresses are also listed. Appended are samples of program support products, such as a sample needs assessment and a statement of goals. (RH)