The North Carolina Annual Testing Program, established by the 1977 General Assembly to assess the effectiveness of the educational process in North Carolina, involves the administration of a battery of norm-referenced tests to students in grades 3, 6, and 8 to measure skills in reading, language, mathematics, science, and social studies. This paper reports performance results from administration of the California Achievement Tests (CAT) to public school students in the spring semesters of 1986 through 1990; and administration of the North Carolina Science and Social Studies Test (NCSST) to public school students in the spring semesters of 1988 and 1990. In the spring of 1990, North Carolina students scored above the national norm group in all CAT subject areas in the three grades tested, with performance higher in mathematics and language than in reading. Between the spring semesters of 1986 and 1990, the average student improved performance in all measured areas. Between the spring semesters of 1988 and 1990, the performance of the typical student in the three grades was maintained or improved in all areas measured by the NCSST. Eighteen graphs illustrate state frequency distributions for the CAT and NCSST. Test results are summarized in 32 tables. Five appendices include: (1) state summary reports from the CAT (21 pages of tables); (2) regional CAT summary reports (36 pages of tables); (3) regional NCST and NCSST summaries (48 pages of tables); (4) "Selecting a Measure of Central Tendency: Comparison of the Mean and Median"; and (5) definitions of measurement terms used in the report. (SLD)