A study was conducted to: (1) determine if differences exist in socioeconomic background, academic ability, and curriculum with regard to basic communication skills achievement of high school seniors; and (2) gather baseline information about the level of achievement expected of seniors. The study compared basic communication skills scores obtained on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS) by high school seniors enrolled in the vocational business education, college preparatory, and general education curricula, while considering attribute variables of socioeconomic background, academic ability, and gender. A sample of 90 Ohio public school classes (1,182 students) was used. Comparison groups were formed by randomized matching. Three instruments were employed in this study: (1) CTBS, yielding language mechanics and language expression scores as well as a combined score for language achievement; (2) the Test of Cognitive Skills (TCS), an improved measure of the skills important to success in the school setting and considered an ability test; and (3) a short questionnaire used to evaluate socioeconomic background. The study found that college preparatory students scored highest on the communication skills test, vocational business students ranked second, and general education students scored lowest. Females consistently outperformed males for all curricular groups. The study also found that somewhat less academically able students chose the vocational business curriculum. Controlling for academic ability, vocational business students performed better for their ability level than college preparatory students did for their academic ability. The measure of socioeconomic background did not support the research and could not be used. However, the study concluded that the actual scores of the academic and vocational students did not differ significantly enough to make a practical difference. (30 references) (KC)