To assess the productivity of 167 Houston elementary schools, researchers applied a fractional linear programming procedure called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to each school's inputs and outputs. School output was measured by third- and sixth-graders' scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS). Input resources comprised pupil characteristics, including their previous year's ITBS scores, minority status, lunch payments, and attendance; and school characteristics, such as expenditures per pupil, teacher experience and attendance, and special programs. The use of DEA removed most major problems associated with earlier measures of educational productivity. By solving the fractional linear program associated with each school, the researchers obtained efficiency ratings for individual schools as well as information showing which resources were being underutilized. Eighty-nine schools proved to be efficient relative to all the schools examined. The measurements correlated perfectly with district administrators' identification of outstanding schools. These results provided managers with information to use in guiding system planning, reporting to the public, measuring schools' managerial efficiency, targeting output goals, and identifying areas in which better input utilization might improve productivity. (Author/RW)