This report looks at the early efforts of states to implement the elementary and secondary education provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The findings are drawn from a survey of officials in state education agencies and governors' offices in 44 states and the District of Columbia. Key findings concern the financial condition of state education budgets, progress toward meeting the reform assurances, interest in national content standards and the Race to the Top Funds, and requests by the states for financial and regulatory relief. The analysis for this report also looked for statistical relationships between states' responses and various educational economic, and other factors, such as the political party of the governor. The authors found no significant difference in responses based on these factors, as discussed in the appendix. Details about study methods are also found in the appendix. (Contains 3 footnotes, 9 figures, and 2 tables.)