This paper addresses specific and general issues regarding data needs and considerations that might improve and better facilitate the collection, use, and interpretation of educational data at the elementary and secondary levels. Specific issues discussed are: (1) preschooling and early education, with emphasis on the nature of preschool education, quality of teachers, and number of children in the system by race, sex and social class; (2) school tracking, concentrating on type of high school programs, concepts and consequences, and distribution of participants; (3) student attrition, calling for attrition patterns and more detailed information on student dropouts; (4) quality of schools survey, asking for differences and similarities in grade promotion, student achievement, and curriculum; (5) teacher and parent surveys, insisting on data on educational background and quality of teachers and extent of parental involvement in school affairs; (6) assessing students' attitudes toward schools and learning and their educational and occupational expectations; (7) transition of students from high school to college; and (8) trends in higher education costs. General issues addressed are: (1) more detailed data on minorities; (2) greater effort to coordinate data collection by various agencies; (3) willingness to receive input from data users and researchers; and (4) continuous collection of longitudinal data. (JAZ)