To attempt to assert that assessing educational need is a concept new to education would be naive. On the other hand, there is little question that this most critical component of planning and decision-making has over the years largely been left to the somewhat capricious whims of intuition and educational "guessmanship." This paper is a report on one effort to place need assessment on a more substantive and responsible basis. The study concentrated on producing five different but complementary types of information: (1) a description of the status of learners in seven broad behavioral areas, (2) a statement of critical needs in these areas, (3) a description of the population characteristics most highly correlated with each identified need, (4) an evaluation of the effect which certain selected system inputs have on each need, and (5) an analysis of the opinions which certain"educationally-relevant" subpopulations hold regarding education. Three strategies are utilized to this end: (1) a secondary analysis of state and district socioeconomic, ethnic and educational data, (2) a survey of the educational practices and learner characteristics of Florida school districts, and (3) a sampling of the opinions of selected subpopulations. While the study is not seen as the final word in assessment models, it is felt to be a significant step in the right direction. The appendices include a list of eight behavioral areas in which needs were identified, eleven need-susceptible target populations with critical needs identified, and details of the effectiveness of system inputs. (Author/CK)