Although educators' use of computers to track student and school information with the attendant positive and negative outcomes is still in an early stage of development, accessible data from such systems could improve the objective rationality of educational and instructional decision-making as long as no one places unwarranted credibility in the information or misinterprets the data. There is some evidence that it is difficult to develop computer information systems to serve a large number of multiple and multi-level purposes because of costs, incompatible equipment, and technical problems, but a system could be used for such things as student diagnosis, program evaluations, and teacher diagnosis and assessment for use in research studies and trend analyses. A system could also change the nature of quantitative program evaluations to systems evaluations and, when combined with automated testing and instructional components, could facilitate the individualization of instruction. However, too much concentration on the quantitative, technical aspects could raise the fear of creating excessive data demands and unused information. As priorities, budgets, and technology change, it becomes difficult to plan and implement these systems, but schools can get from where they are today to where they want to be by building on the experiences of business and other service fields, and by giving attention to top-down and bottom-up considerations. (DJR)