In 1986 the Kentucky General Assembly passed legislation directing the Legislative Research Commission to appoint a special subcommittee, the Special Subcommittee on Essential Skills Testing, to study the Kentucky Essential Skills Testing Program (KEST) and to make recommendations concerning the program. This report presents the findings and recommendations of this subcommittee. Kentucky began its mandated statewide testing program in 1978. The KEST provides information about each student's mastery of essential skills, or criterion-referenced data, and an estimate of how well Kentucky's students do in comparison with a national sample. When the KEST is considered in terms of the statutory requirements for testing, it seems to fulfill these purposes. However, it only provides an estimate of normative information, and is not as reliable at the individual student level as a longer norm-referenced test would be. The Subcommittee met six times during the year and heard the testimony of various experts and reviewed documents pertaining to the KEST and other state and nationally normed tests. As a result it made two recommendations: (1) the Kentucky Department of Education should administer a criterion-referenced test based on the essential skills in grades K-12, and also administer a nationally normed achievement test in grades 3, 5, 7, and 10; and (2) Kentucky should participate in the 1988 Southern Regional Education Board/National Assessment of Educational Progress Testing Program. (SLD)