There is a need for improved educational indicators in order to determine the nature of the major problems facing American education. Based on the experience of the National Commission for Excellence in Education, this paper tries to provide the basis for identifying a preliminary set of indicators that would be useful to policymakers and that are not currently available. In the input stage of the educational system the indicators would be: amount of time allocated to education, content, standards and expectations, teaching as a practice and as a profession, and leadership and support. Factors identified in the output stage are achievement and retention. There are certain kinds of information which are essential for defining variables but not available, such as: number of students who know basic academic concepts, achievement of students compared to students in other countries, ability of students to solve complex problems, trends in measuring educational achievements, and trends in achievement facing different challenges. Reasons are offered to explain why some of the indicators are not available. (JAZ)