In November, 1985, the Council of Chief State School Officers adopted a plan for developing educational indicators. The plan provided for the development of a common measure of student achievement to be collected across states beginning in 1988-89. In order to design a student achievement assessment program, the states were asked to give their opinion on the following issues: specific subject matters to be assessed; type of information that the assessment program would provide; and procedures for collecting data. On the basis of the responses from 20 states, a preliminary assessment program was developed. Responses suggested that subject matter and assessment specialists, considering the broadest instructional content and priorities, should establish the subject specification frameworks. Information should be reported as single value for each subject at each grade level. Reading, writing, English and mathematics should be assessed every other year, and science and social studies every four years. The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) or another suitable organization should govern the data collection procedures. Test administration should be monitored, and sampling, scoring, and data processing should be conducted through a single, central project funded by the states and administered by CCSSO. (JAZ)