Intended for use by educators, school administrators, and other educational decisionmakers, this guide describes what is known about media, explores school and student characteristics that can affect the selection and acceptance of media, and identifies the conditions under which media can be used most productively in teaching basic skills. Individual chapters focus on the challenges facing administrators in today's school systems; the meaning of basic skills, how they are learned, and what techniques are useful in teaching them; currently available educational technologies and the uses to which they can be put, with emphasis on computers, television, calculators, electronic devices, and audiovisual media; the impact of media on school achievement, learning, school productivity, school faculty and staff, and management; instructional materials selection, including the evaluation of published materials and the design and development of materials; the total cost of media, methods of assessing cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit, and how to solicit bids; and steps or activities in deciding whether to use media in basic skills education. A glossary, references, and resource lists are appended. (LMM)