The history of education for the professions is reviewed, along with the literature considering issues and controversies concerning professional education. The objective is to begin developing and issuing social indicator reports on the status of professional education that may be helpful to government agencies, accrediting bodies, and professional organizations. A conceptual framework identifies major components of professional education, issues for each component, and variables that should be included in a social indicator report. The conceptual framework covers: student characteristics, characteristics of professional curricula, factors influencing policies and practices of institutions offering professional education, availability of financial aid, and the role of continuing professional education. A social indicator report presenting time-series data on these topics would permit answers to the following research questions: (1) the status of various professions with respect to each issue; (2) whether the status of professions has changed in recent years; (3) possible future trends; (4) implications of these trends for educational policies; and (5) implications for educational policies of differences among the professions. An annotated bibliography of 20 publications is appended. (SW)