The California Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) Project was undertaken at San Diego Community College to provide effective assessment materials and procedures for placing, measuring the achievement of, and certifying the attainment of competencies by adult students enrolled in adult basic education (ABE) and English as a second language (ESL) as well as high school completion programs. During the project, a consortium that included representatives from five western states met to develop a set of placement, achievement, and certification tests based on district-adopted competency statements. The consortium identified a core of life skills competencies that focused on the needs of non-native speakers of English. Following a field test of several currently available placement and certification instruments, the consortium developed the CASAS. To date, the CASAS has undergone several field tests and is being continually reviewed at monthly consortium meetings. (Appended to this report are the CASAS competency code list, sample item bank information, scale and score information and selected statistics dealing with ABE pre- and posttests, CASAS field test demographic data, and the revised CASAS curriculum matrix.) (MN)