In January of 1987, a planning conference was convened by the Center for Education Statistics as part of an effort to study the feasibility of various approaches to the nationwide assessment of children's readiness for instruction in kindergarten and first grade. This report provides, in an appendix, the texts of the four commissioned papers presented at the conference: (1) Pamela A. J. Selden's "Readiness for School: A Teacher's Perspective"; (2) Virginia C. Shipman's "Basic Abilities Needed as a Precondition for School"; (3) David Elkind's "How Children Learn"; and (4) Lorrie A. Shepard's "The Assessment of Readiness for School: Psychometric and Other Considerations." Also provided in the report are brief introductory remarks concerning the conference; summaries of the presented papers; condensed statements of the principal viewpoints expressed in the conference discussions; a commissioned synthesizing paper by Lorin W. Anderson which concerns implications of the papers for the Center; and a summary of discussions, recommendations, and arguments advanced at the conference. The four conference papers are reproduced in Appendix A. Appendix B lists conference participants. Appendix C offers biographical sketches of the speakers. (RH)