To comply with state law, the results of the South Carolina Basic Skills Assessment Program (BSAP) are reported for the 1989-90 school year. Accomplishments included: (1) administering the readiness test--the Cognitive Skills Assessment Battery (CSAB)--to all first graders; (2) administering criterion-referenced basic skills tests to all students in grades 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8; (3) administering the Exit Examination to eligible students in grades 10, 11, and 12, and to adult education students; (4) administering BSAP science tests to students in grades 3, 6, and 8, and applying state standards for the BSAP science test for the first time; and (5) monitoring the implementation of the instructional components of the BSAP. Of the 55,911 first graders tested using the CSAB in August and September of 1989, 74.4% were classified as ready, a percentage that has remained basically the same since 1985. About 24% of the first graders tested in 1989 were classified as not ready. Between 1979 and 1989, the number of students classified as ready increased by 14.2 percentage points. CSAB data for the past 2 years show a large increase in the proportion of first grade students who attended a public kindergarten at age 5 years (74.7% in 1979 and 87.5% in 1989). Performance on the BSAP tests indicated significant improvement in reading for every grade, but stabilized performance in mathematics and writing over the last 3 years. Increasing numbers of high school students passed the Exit Examination; adult students were taking the Exit Examination for the first time. Monitoring the BSAP resulted in teacher education and other staff training efforts. Recommendations by the Basic Skills Advisory Commission are included. Seven bar graphs illustrate the findings. (SLD)