Since the fall of 1984, the Pennsylvania Department of Education has conducted a yearly statewide testing of the reading and mathematics competencies of students in grades 3, 5, and 8. Because Pennsylvania does not mandate statewide curricula, the Department has had to rely upon committees of state educators to determine which objectives to test. This study provides instructional validity information about the 1987 objectives in the two areas, determining whether what was tested was being taught to most students in the three grade levels. The differential item functioning (DIF) technique was used to compare the 1987 performance on an objective of students who were in buildings where it was taught with the performance on the objective of students in buildings where it was not taught. The teacher survey results support the instructional validity of the objectives, although several mathematics objectives were identified for closer examination. The administrator survey did not provide instructional validity information, but produced somewhat limited curricular validity information. The DIF technique functioned well in examining achievement differences of Taught and Untaught groups and appears to be an effective way of picturing patterns of difference for various skills. Twenty tables and 12 graphs are provided. Appendices summarize the objectives and include the sample objectives rating survey. (SLD)