The Michigan Assessment Program was proposed and designed to provide an improved information base for research and planning. Its assumptions were that education is an important investiment in human welfare, both school and non-school inputs influence educational performance, educational services are inequitably distributed, and resources available for education need to be efficiently allocated. The specific assessment in Michigan involved an immediate determination of school performance in the areas of basic skills and then a further determnation of educational goals and procedures for assessing them. Descriptions of the level of educational performance and its correlates for the state, for geographic regions and types of communities, and for each of Michigan's local school districts are included. While this assessment procedure will not automatically alleviate educational problems, it can assist state decision-makers in providing eqitabe education. (Author/PR)