The Assessment Tool for Moderately Retarded Students in Academic Skills (1978) is designed for moderately retarded students (5-21 years) and mildly retarded students (3-14 years) who will be living in sheltered home and work settings. The assessment tool is based on a life centered curricular model concerned with developing--in a sequential manner--necessary living skills. A review of currently available evaluation tools reveals that some of the measures do not provide for progressive skill acquisition, are not valid for mentally retarded learners, or do not identify progressive objectives through the school years. The Assessment Tool for Moderately Retarded Students in Academic Skills measures student progress in six academic areas: (1) reading; (2) writing; (3) form discrimination and spatial relations; (4) number identification, number-object matching, and counting; (5) applied number skills--money; and (6) applied number skills--calendar, time, and measurement. Each academic area is broken down into basic skills necessary to master long term goals. Trends revealed from using the assessment with approximately 125 moderately retarded students over 4 years are noted. Appended are sample assessment tool items and graphs of average student profiles. (SW)