This digest is designed to provide information to Texas testing coordinators, other educators, and interested citizens about the development procedures and technical attributes of the state-mandated criterion-referenced assessment program. The chapters are: (1) "Background"; (2) "Test Development"; (3) "Test Administration"; (4) "Quality Control Procedures"; (5) "Reports"; (6) "Standards"; (7) "Scaling"; (8)"Reliability"; (9) "Validity"; (10) "Equating"; (11) "TAAS Writing Assessment"; (12) "English II End-of-Course Test"; (13) "End-of-Course Tests for Algebra I, Biology I, and U.S. History"; (14) "Spanish-Version TAAS"; (15)"Release of Tests"; (16) "TAAS Study Guides"; (17) "The Alternative Assessment"; (18) "Reading Proficiency Tests in English"; and (19) "TEKS and Texas Tests." Sixteen appendixes contain supplemental information about test development, state standards, scores, and student surveys. (Contains 15 references.) (SLD)