The value of statistical research depends on valid comparisons which can usefully influence educational policy. Educational research needs to extend the measures of learning (such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress) through nationally-calibrated absolute measures and through computer-assisted and adaptive testing. Direct sampling by computer would make educational polls and national assessment faster and less expensive. A national bureau of educational standards might be founded to collect, coordinate, calibrate, archive, analyze, synthesize, and make available the data that is needed to improve educational productivity. Nine factors promoting efficiency and productivity of learning are classified in three broad categories: (1) student aptitude, including ability, development, and motivation; (2) instruction, including amount of time students engage in learning and quality of instructional experience; and (3) environmental factors, such as home climate, classroom social group, peer group, and television viewing. The tables in the appendix illustrate the effect of productivity factors on achievement revealed by quantitative syntheses carried out by a number of investigators in Australia, Canada and the United States during the past decade. (JAZ)