The hearings presented in this volume are composed of testimony about general trends that have implications for the future of all federal programs affecting elementary and secondary education. One of the focuses of the hearings is on demographic trends that have an impact on elementary and secondary education, particularly the question of declining enrollments. With regard to this matter, three sources have presented findings. The Office of Technology Assessment discussed the influence of demographic trends on the school system and the implications of shifting enrollment patterns for school planning. It was noted that federal actions regarding presented demographic trends include the stimulation of state, local, and regional capacity to use these data in their planning, and secondly the marshalling of federal resources to provide a better information and knowledge base for these projections. The National Institute of Education (NIE) has embarked on a systematic examination of declining enrollment. The testimony presented by them draws from studies conducted by NIE's School Finance and Organization Division. The National Center for Education Statistics discussed the dimension of the elementary and secondary education enterprise in terms of three questions that are asked of the educational system: What are the results?, How much does it cost?, and Who goes to school and where? The second focus of this volume discusses what is known about the level of academic achievement that presently exists among students, with an emphasis placed upon learning what can be learned from national data. Issues discussed include whether less emphasis is being placed upon learning the basic skills, and also, the merits of competency-based education. (Author/AM)