This handbook is designed to help Utah educators implement student assessment procedures that are in harmony with the State graduation requirements of 1984, which identify implementation and assessment of student achievement as the responsibilities of local boards of education. The State graduation requirements and programs of study allow considerable flexibility for school districts and teachers in choosing assessment techniques to measure student performance in relation to the core curriculum. This handbook provides a set of strategies for educators and a conceptual framework to assist administrators and teachers in implementing the assessment provisions of the elementary and secondary programs of study and graduation requirements. Topics include: critical components for assessment of student progress in relation to core curriculum objectives, components necessary for measuring individual student performance in relation to core curriculum objectives, approaches for measuring student performance based on the core curriculum, teacher-made tests, textbook tests, teacher evaluation of student products and performance, district-constructed tests and item pools, criterion-referenced tests produced by publishing companies and research and development organizations, item pools and end-of-level/course tests developed by the Utah State Office of Education, norm-referenced standardized tests, identification of an instructional management system, and the issue of mastery determination. A glossary, characteristics of tests based on testing purpose, and strategies of assessment for Utah's core curriculum (in the areas of assessment of art, healthy life-styles, information technology, language arts, mathematics, music, science, and social studies) are appended. (RLC)