Basic skills being taught are often unrelated to skills required by new technologies. Teaching obsolete skills in minimum competency programs is useless, even racist. The concept of basic skills changes with emergent technology. Sound instructional systems require meaningful philosophy, goals, and awareness of the findings of developmental…

Argues for the value of high-quality minimum competency testing (MCT) programs in efforts to restore honesty to public school promotion practices. Lists the seven characteristics of a good program and discusses the effects of MCT on students, on curriculum and teaching, and on public perceptions of schooling. (Author/WD)

Detroit's minimum competency testing program focuses on improving basic skills instruction. Using test results as indicators of areas of weakness and strength in 12 subjects, teachers have a better understanding of the learning tasks and subskills needed for mastery. (WD)

Students graduating from Westside High must meet hour and competency test requirements. The seven competency tests are in reading, writing, mathematics, democratic process, problem-solving, oral communication, and consumerism. (IRT)

Educators must, if possible, prepare youth for both survival and self-actualization by converting traditional methods of education into a practical process which will prepare students for modern life. (Author/JN)

Argues against using results of minimum competency testing (MCT) as the sole determinant of student classification, promotion, or condition for graduation from high school. Favors accountability, but asserts that MCT is not the best alternative available. (WD)

An English elementary-level administrator discusses what his county system does in the way of teaching basic skills, implementing accountability, teaching the gifted, organizing grades, and providing for staff development in in-service programs for teachers. (IRT)

A recent Rockefeller Foundation report concluded that a lively life in the humanities depended on vigorous engagement with reading, writing, and cultures. Collaboratives for Humanities and Arts Teaching (CHART), created to foster humanistic education, targets classrooms of average students from impoverished urban and rural districts. Such…

During the 1960s, Dorothy Rich used paper cartons, tables, lamps, chairs, electric bills, and other paraphernalia of home life to construct "recipes" to help parents prepare their kids for achieving academic success. Rich's contemporary MegaSkills training program, developed at the Home and School Institute, is highly regarded. (MLH)

Warns against the dangers of allowing a student too much freedom in choosing his curriculum. (JF)

Describes the origins of alternative schools within U. S. public school systems and the reasons for their rapid proliferation. (Author/WD)

Abandoning conventional assumptions about skills hierarchies leads to a new set of curricular principles focusing on complex, meaningful problems, embedding basic skills instruction within more global tasks, and connecting instruction to students' experience and culture. Teachers can then model powerful thinking strategies, encourage multiple…

A protracted class-action suit against California's Commission on Teacher Credentialing (by 15 minority individuals and 3 organizations) proved a major loss for plaintiff educators. The Ninth Circuit's ruling follows the trend of high-stakes testing decisions favoring the government, despite revised Office of Civil Rights guidelines. (MLH)

The Essential Learning Skills Television Project is developing 60 15-minute programs and related print materials designed to blend and review math and language skills while focusing on the reasoning process. (Author/IRT)