EXHIBIT 99



                                  NEWS RELEASE



    CONTACT: Maggie Knack                                         (NASDAQ: NLCS)
         Director, Investor Relations
         952-829-3203
         mpknack@ncs.com



            NCS REPORTS TERMINATION OF U.K. JOINT VENTURE DISCUSSIONS


         Minneapolis - June 20, 2000 - National  Computer  Systems,  Inc., (NCS)
(NASDAQ: NLCS) reported today that its previously announced plan to form a joint
venture with the University of Cambridge Local  Examinations  Syndicate  (UCLES)
has been terminated.  The completion of the proposed  transaction was subject to
the negotiation and execution of a definitive joint venture  agreement.  Much to
the Company's  disappointment,  working  discussions with UCLES have been halted
due to an inability to agree to mutually acceptable terms on this venture.

         Russ  Gullotti,  chairman,  president and CEO of NCS  commented,  "Both
parties  enthusiastically  pursued  this  possibility  of  jointly  creating  an
unparalleled educational services entity to serve U.K. test candidates. However,
NCS remains  convinced that our technologies  and patented  processes will still
result in exciting growth for our Company in the U.K. marketplace."

         Headquartered in Minneapolis, NCS (www.ncs.com) is a global information
services  company  providing  software,  services,  systems  and  Internet-based
technologies for data collection,  management and  interpretation.  Nearly 5,000
NCS  employees  at 30  locations  worldwide  serve our  customers  in  important
segments of the  education,  testing,  assessment  and complex  data  management
markets.

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