Higher education is a critical element of the American economy, because of both its benefits and its costs to individuals and taxpayers. Yet we know very little about the relationships between the things colleges and universities do and the resources they need to do them. Currently, shrinking public support and increasing tuition make it urgent that we understand our own productivity and how to measure it. The challenge we face is to contain costs without compromising quality or accessibility. Accordingly, the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies convened a panel on measuring higher education productivity. The Lumina Foundation and the NRC's Committee on National Statistics charged the experts with developing a conceptual framework for measuring higher education productivity at the institution, system, and sector levels and with describing the data needed for that framework. This article summarizes the panel's conclusions and recommendations. (Contains 1 table, 1 figure, and 8 resources.)