THIS STUDY REVIEWS SOME OF THE CURRENT PLANNING PRACTICES IN SCHOOL SYSTEMS WHICH ARE CONSIDERED TO BE ALREADY INVOLVED IN LONG-RANGE PLANNING, AND DESCRIBES FURTHER LONG-RANGE TECHNIQUES WHICH COULD BE ADAPTED FOR SCHOOL SYSTEMS FROM CURRENT CORPORATE AND GOVERNMENTAL PLANNING PROCEDURES. INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEWS WERE CONDUCTED WITH SELECTED MANAGEMENT (OR ADMINISTRATIVE) PERSONNEL IN CORPORATIONS, GOVERNMENT, AND SCHOOL SYSTEMS TO IDENTIFY THE SPECIFIC ELEMENTS OF A PLANNING PROGRAM APPROPRIATE FOR SCHOOL SYSTEMS. IN ADDITION, QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES FROM APPROXIMATELY 200 SCHOOL SYSTEMS WERE TABULATED, CATEGORIZED, AND ANALYZED. THE INTERVIEW INFORMATION WAS COMPARED WITH DATA FROM THE OTHER SOURCES AND SYNTHESIZED AS A BASIS FOR DESCRIBING A PROCESS OF LONG-RANGE PLANNING. RESULTS INDICATE THE NECESSITY FOR ORGANIZED LONG-RANGE PLANNING EFFORTS. NEITHER SYSTEMATIC LONG-RANGE PLANNING NOR A FORMALIZED STRUCTURE FOR INSURING AN EFFECTIVE PLANNING EFFORT ARE FOUND IN MOST SCHOOL SYSTEMS TODAY, BUT THERE IS A WILLINGNESS EVIDENT AMONG SCHOOL LEADERS TO SEEK MORE IMAGINATIVE APPROACHES TO PLANNING. FUTURE STUDIES AND PRACTICAL EXPERIMENTATION IN COOPERATIVE INTERACTION BETWEEN SCHOOLS AND CORPORATE AND GOVERNMENT ENTERPRISES ARE WARRANTED. (HW)