Developing a student testing mathematical model for instructional management purposes necessitates clear structuring of the curriculum materials involved, whether designated in the domain of content or the dimension of concepts or skills. Such structuring of a course written in performance objectives is presented and noted to be helpful in making decisions concerning the construction of tests over time and in understanding the inter-relationships of the parts of the curriculum from the testing results. An algorithm to select test items used to estimate desired parameters is developed. Inputs into the model are the average time required to answer each item, the errors of measurement associated with each item, the relative value of the information provided, the prior knowledge of this information, and a value function on the accuracy of the resultant estimates. Finally, techniques are given to allocate test items to students in such a way as to generate simultaneous estimates of item and student group characteristics. References are included. (Author/ES)