The North Carolina End-of-Course Testing Program is based on the assessment of higher level skills in the context of specific subject-area content. These tests inform students, parents, the community, and educators about the achievement of North Carolina students in given areas. This report describes the development and psychometric properties of the end-of-course tests in Algebra I; Biology; Economic, Legal, and Political Systems; English I; and United States History. The value of these tests lies primarily in the fact that the scores provide a common yardstick that is not influenced by local differences. The end-of-course test score counts as part of the student's grade in the course, with how much it counts being a local decision. The tests described in this publication are administered during the last 10 days of a course. For each of these tests, the report describes: (1) item development; (2) test development; (3) scores and scales; (4) descriptive statistics and reliability; and (5) validity. Six appendixes provide sample test items and discuss aspects of test construction and scoring in detail. (Contains 19 tables, 11 figures, 19 appendix graphs, 4 appendix tables, and 34 references.) (SLD)