Sacramento City College's Assessment Center was created in response to growing numbers of students arriving at the college without basic verbal skills and a lack of uniform testing standards. Since its creation, the Center has undertaken research studies to provide objective evidence as to the nature of the student population to be served by the curriculum offerings of the college. Data from fall 1982 studies revealed that: (1) 60.1% of incoming and returning students needed support help in reading: (2) 1,577 students needed reading improvement, but only 389 were enrolled in reading classes at the end of the semester; (3) there was a parallel between the reading profiency levels of students who dropped courses and those who stayed in courses but received unsatisfactory grades; (4) students with the lowest median reading scores were more likely to drop courses; (5) students who had taken assessment tests for placement into appropriate courses were less likely to drop the courses than unassessed students; and (6) students reading below the 10th grade level had very little chance of receiving a C grade or better, except in classes created to meet specific learning skill needs. As the database provided by the Assessment Center grows, it will permit a narrowing of the gap between the defined needs of the students and the curriculum offerings of the college. A summary of spring 1983 Assessment Center research findings is appended. (HB)