Screening programs are now widely used with children who are age-eligible for school entry. Screening is used to identify children who may be at risk of future difficulty in school (e.g., inability to meet academic expectations) and those who may have special needs in learning (e.g., extraordinary abilities and talents or handicapping conditions). Because screening is intended for all the children, screening measures should be inexpensive, brief, simple to administer, and easy to interpret. Screening alone is not sufficient for decisions about a child's placement or kind of instruction, and further assessment is necessary. Screening practices vary greatly, and important issues concerning screening at school entry are: (1) Should young children's behavior be measured? (2) Is screening harmful? (3) Is screening valid? (4) What should screening measure or observe--readiness or development? (5) How should children's abilities be measured? and (6) How should screening information be used? To insure that all children needing special programs are identified, educators should clarify the purpose of screening, keep informed about research on screening tools, and adopt procedures that screen for current levels of functioning in a broad range of domains. Children should be rescreened periodically and assessed diagnostically to confirm their needs. (NH)