THE DATA FILE DOCUMENTATION PROVIDES THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT SCHOOL DATA FILES: PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF DATA TAPES AND THEIR FILES; RECORD LAYOUT INFORMATION (CODE BOOKS); SPECIAL CODING TECHNIQUES; ANOMALIES AND PROBLEMS WITH DATA; ADVICE ON ANALYZING DATA; AND GUIDELINES FOR MERGING AND AGGREGATING DATA. THE PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF DATA TAPES AND THEIR FILES CONTAINS INFORMATION ABOUT ACTUAL PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCHOOL DATA FILES. CODE BOOKS ARE PRESENTED IN THE APPENDIX AND ALSO AS FILES ON DISTRIBUTION TAPES IN MACHINE-READABLE FORM. THEY CONTAIN RECORD LAYOUT INFORMATION (BOTH ABBREVIATED AND EXPANDED), VARIABLE LABELS, RESPONSE CODES AND MISSING VALUE DATA. EXPLANATIONS OF HOW MISSING DATA ARE TREATED AND HOW IDENTIFICATION VARIABLES ARE EMPLOYED AS LINKS BETWEEN FILES ARE INCLUDED IN A SECTION ON SPECIAL CODING TECHNIQUES. THE DOCUMENTATION IS DIVIDED INTO THREE PARTS: (1) PROJECT-LEVEL DOCUMENTATION, ISSUES OF IMPORTANCE TO ALL FILES; (2) FILE-LEVEL DOCUMENTATION; AND (3) PROGRAMMER'S GUIDE, A DESCRIPTION OF SOFTWARE USED IN THE STUDY AND STRATEGIES USEFUL IN CREATING NEW ANALYSIS FILES WITH SCHOOL DATA FILES. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MERGING AND AGGREGATING VARIOUS FILES WITHIN SCHOOL DATA FILES ARE PRESENTED. THE MAJOR PORTION OF THE APPENDIX IS COMPRISED OF DOCUMENTATION AND FIGURES. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED--DEP)