The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education uses state-developed, criterion-referenced tests for the purpose of evaluating programs funded by Chapter 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The agency's efforts to obtain approval from the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) to use state norms for evaluation purposes are described, and evidence is presented to demonstrate that the state tests meet the USDE criteria for approval. The second section of the paper describes the innovative and efficient processes that Missouri uses to collect, aggregate, and report evaluation data to the local education agencies. The Missouri Mastery and Achievement Tests and the First-Grade Reading and Mathematics Test, the two tests developed for Chapter 1 evaluation, are appropriate and efficient for program evaluation throughout most of the grade-level continuum. Both meet or exceed the USDE requirements. Electronic transmission of information, a feature of the Missouri system, from collection of pretest scores to the generation and communication of data and results saves time and effort for local Chapter 1 personnel. Four appendixes provide sample reports generated by the testing process and a local school report form. Eight tables present evaluation findings. (Contains 7 references.) (SLD)