After surveying 1,827 students in their final year at eighty randomly selected two-year and four-year public and private institutions, American Institutes for Research (2006) reported that approximately 30 percent of students in two-year institutions and nearly 20 percent of students in four-year institutions have only basic quantitative literacy--the ability to compare unit prices and calculate the restaurant bill total. In 2003, the National Assessment of Adult Literacy found 14 percent and 3 percent of college graduates were, respectively, at the basic and below-basic literacy level (Kutner, Greenberg, and Baer, 2005). Basic level is the ability to read and understand short, commonplace prose texts, and below basic is the ability to locate easily identifiable information. Obviously college administrators should be worried about admitting and graduating students with only basic and below-basic skills. Basic skills assessment ensures that students both enter and graduate with skills to succeed in the world beyond the campus. This chapter examines basic skills assessment by understanding the foundations and purposes of it, the process involved with it, and the various instruments associated with it. The authors describe the most commonly used commercial tests for basic skills as well as the most commonly used standardized tests for college admissions and placement decisions. They then provide a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of different assessment instruments.