Needs assessment is the most commonly used procedure for assessing the worth of educational objectives. The authors believe this method is a survey of wants, rather than needs, of various groups. It does not establish that such wants ought to be fulfilled. It lacks a principled basis for carrying out its strategy. Four basic assumptions are made by proponents of needs assessment: institutions should fulfill needs of people, they should fulfill greater needs before lesser ones, people need from institutions what they want from them and are not getting, and people are in greatest need of what they want most. A procedure which considers preferences fails to provide principles which determine the wants to be fulfilled. The authors suggest ways of modifying the method of needs assessment. Four rules of universalizability are presented and explained. These would ensure that well reasoned, moral judgments would result from needs assessments. (DWH)