Two major concerns should be considered as the federal effort to collect educational data is redesigned. The concerns involve the roles performed by school personnel and the effect of student characteristics on achievement. Obtaining accurate measures of school district personnel--how many, what type, and what they do--is difficult. However, measures of this type of process, particularly administrative efforts, are important. In general, educational institutions tend to respond in symbolic ways to community needs--by hiring a director of evaluation, for example--but in ways that have very little effect on the actual productivity of a system. It is important to observe administrative effort during times of reform or declining enrollments. Improvements are also needed in the categories used to collect data on school personnel and in the ways in which school staff really spend their time. As for the comparison of private and public schools, data collection has previously focused on students' output, or achievement. Research efforts should examine whether public and private school families are different before entering private schools, or whether the choice of private schooling fosters certain attitudes, values, and behavior. (GDC)