This newsletter is part of an effort to improve mastery of the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS). Responses of teachers to a survey in the Spring of 1987 concerning their beliefs and facts about the TEAMS are reported, along with clarifying facts about this criterion referenced test. Teaching to the TEAMS is advisable because it is part of a program intended to promote test-driven instruction on skills all students should know. Results of the Austin (Texas) Independent School District (AISD) show that AISD students scored higher on the 1987 TEAMS than on the 1986 test, although gains were not as large as those made by students in other urban Texas districts. On exit-level TEAMS, AISD has ranked number 1 since 1985, with 99.4% of students passing both areas of the tests and fulfilling requirements for graduation. Performance of educationally disadvantaged (Chapter 1) students in grade 3, English TEAMS data for limited English proficient students in grades 1 through 9, and Spanish TEAMS data for grades 1 and 3 are outlined. A summary is given of ways to prepare students for the TEAMS. Seven graphs are included. (SLD)