This report presents results from the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) tests administered in the spring of 1997 and results from end of course tests in Algebra and Biology. Only a slight decrease in the percentage passing the eighth-grade social studies test marred the otherwise across-the-board rise in percentages meeting minimum expectations at all levels. The increased passing rate occurred even as the number of students tested rose by approximately 58,000 students. Following an Executive Summary, the second section of the report provides an assessment program overview and discusses performance standards, benchmarking, test security, and results reporting format. The third section contains TAAS results by grade level for the exit level tests and for grades 3 through 8. Spanish TAAS test results for grades 3 and 4 are included. Section 4 contains results from the TAAS benchmarked tests and Spanish version tests for grades 4 through 6. Section 5 presents results for the Algebra I and Biology I End-of-Course examinations. In section 6, TAAS and End-of-Course regional results are shown. Section 7 contains a study of the correlation of course grades with performance on the eighth-grade social studies test. Eleven appendixes present additional results reports, specifically focusing on students in special education and those not in special education. (Contains 47 tables.) (SLD)