The New Standards Project is a joint effort of the Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) at the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) and the National Center on Education and the Economy toward creation of a national examination system based on performance assessments. This study explored the feasibility of comparing performance on different tasks across states using writing assessments, the current assessments closest to the type of assessment that the Project seeks to encourage. Ten states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, and Vermont) participated in a cross-state scoring workshop in July 1991. Writing projects from elementary school, middle school, and high school levels were submitted, using selections from each state's regular operational writing assessment program. Each state also sent experienced readers. Eight sets of papers from elementary schools, eight sets from middle schools, and seven sets from high schools were multiply scored. Correlations of scores assigned by readers from one state with those from another state were generally quite high. The high level of agreement provides good documentation of the fact that states share a common view of the relative ordering of students' writing from low to high. It is evident, however, that considerable cross-state discussion would be required to arrive at common performance standards. Three figures and 21 tables illustrate the discussion, and a 10-item list of references is included. (SLD)