A broad range of data and data sources useful in educational planning are identified along with some of the problems in collecting and using that data, and several systematic approaches for analyzing groups of community data are described. The place of a community profile as a data-collection, information-generating process in a comprehensive planning model is defined. The roles played by the profiling team--citizens, consultants, and school administrators--in the process are outlined, and the collection and analysis activities within a master planning context are defined. Specific data elements relevant to educational planning are detailed and assigned to categories of community resources, community concern, land use, and population. In each of the four subsections, data sources and collection and analysis approaches are provided. A population/enrollment simulation model developed for use in both increasing and decreasing enrollment areas is described in terms of its required input that originates from a community profiling effort. A number of publications useful in understanding and executing a community profile are provided in the bibliography. (Author/MLF)