The New Jersey Basic Skills Assessment Program was created to determine the status of basic skills preparedness of freshmen entering public colleges and universities and to offer data to help colleges place freshman students in appropriate courses. The New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Test (NJCBSPT) is a 3-hour-and-20-minute examination with questions on Reading Comprehension, Sentence Sense, Computation, and Elementary Algebra. It is mandatory for all full- and part-time freshmen upon entering New Jersey public colleges and is voluntarily administered in 11 independent colleges. The 1987 report is based on the scores of 42,603 students tested between March and October of 1987. Results are reported for four sectors of public colleges (county, state, Rutgers University, and New Jersey Institute of Technology). Information on statewide findings, recent high school graduates, non-recent high school graduates, and demography is provided, and college basic skills remediation in other states is reported. The outcomes of skill deficient students in New Jersey's colleges are noted. Appendices include a description of the NJCBSPT; NJCBSPT mean scaled scores (1983-1987); a description of the proficiency levels established by the Basic Skills Council; items representative of those included on the NJCBSPT (mathematics); comparison of statewide self-reported student backgrounds (1983-1987); participating independent colleges/universities, and NJCBSPT year-to-year score equating. Numerous charts, graphs, and tables are included. (SM)