In many countries in Africa today formal education is in a state of crisis. While curricular reform continues to serve as an ongoing source of public policy debate, African leaders are confronting increasing difficulty in allotting educational resources to meet present and future levels of demand. The paralysis that has been unfolding is one characterized basically by education's rising claim on public sector resources against a backdrop of widespread poor economic growth, mounting international debt, and rapidly growing populations whose demand for education cannot be met readily by traditional means. This paper seeks to explore the options available to respond to Africa's growing educational demand, how the options can be managed, and what role the options can play in promoting accelerated economic growth and development. Three basic policy options for education are proposed: (1) maintaining existing programs and institutions and allocating relatively static levels of educational resources; (2) increasing the allocation of resources to education based on an expansion of existing institutions and programs; and (3) structural reform. These basic educational policy options are examined by first looking at Africa's institutional experience, and then through the use of an educational forecasting model. Numerous figures and tables of statistical, economic and educational data appear throughout this report. An extensive bibliography also is included. (DB)