Microcomputers in schools contribute significantly to the learning process, and software selection is taken as seriously as the selection of text books. The seven step process for responsible software selection are: (1) analyzing needs, including the differentiation between needs and objectives; (2) specification of requirements; (3) identifying promising software, with a discussion of possible sources of information; (4) reading relevant reviews and where to find them; (5) previewing software with intended student group; (6) making recommendations on software for purchasing; and (7) getting post-use feedback to determine the conformance or discrepancy between objectives and actual student performance. (Contains six references.) (MAS)