To measure and report on the extent and quality of students' understanding of geography, the National Geographic Society initiated and provided support for a national assessment of students 17 years old and in the 12th grade. Since 1969, the Nation's Report Card, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), has been responsible for collecting information about the educational achievement of United States youth in a variety of subject areas including reading, mathematics, writing, science, music, art, career and occupational development, social studies, literature, computer competence, and recently, U.S. history and civics. The results of the 1988 geography assessment, the first in NAEP's 20-year history, serves the interests of geographers, educators, policymakers, and parents across the country. Chapter 1, "Overview of the Objectives," defines geography in the curriculum and provides a framework for the geography objectives. In Chapter 2, "The Geography Objectives," the following learning outcomes are explored: (1) geographic skills and tools; (2) geographic knowledge and concepts (content) including physical geography and cultural geography; and (3) geographic inquiry including knowing and understanding and applying. A "Distribution of Assessment Items" is included to show the approximate percentage distribution of assessment questions in terms of their classification within the geography framework's main categories of geographic skills and content and geographic inquiry. A list of "Participants in the Development Process" also is provided. (CB)