Describes trends in the minimal competency movement in Florida and several other states and speculates about future trends in minimum-competency testing. (DD)

The author considers the implications of minimum competency requirements for handicapped students, teachers of the handicapped, and mainstreaming. (SBH)

Compares the results of the first and second years of testing in the Florida minimum competency program to show that the program is working. (IRT)

The New Jersey Education Association charges that serious reporting errors in the state's minimum basic skills (MBS) testing program are causing some children to be falsely labelled as failures and are leading to misallocation of State Compensatory Education Aid, which is based on a formula using MBS scores. (SJL)

The paper presents guidelines to assist Virginia's local education agency (LEA) personnel, particularly teachers, administrators, counselors, and test providers, in the implementation of the minimum competency program for handicapped students. An introduction traces the history of graduation requirements, outlines revised graduation eligibility,…

After a brief discussion of the issues prompting concern with competency-based education (CBE) and an explanation of what it is and why it is so popular, this document goes on to discuss action Wisconsin and other states have taken to implement CBE. Very brief accounts are given of the minimal competency-type programs implemented in Sparta,…

Information on competency testing for teacher certification is reprinted exactly from four pages (70-71, 129-130) of a National Center for Education Statistics Publication (volume I of "The Condition of Education: Elementary and Secondary Education 1988," edited by J. D. Stern.) As of the fall of 1987, 45 states had enacted competency testing…

The document provides information related to statewide testing of exceptional students for the North Carolina Annual, Minimum Skills Diagnostic, End-of-Course, and Competency Testing programs. Guidelines for the appropriate use of alternative test formats, aids, or a different test environment with disabled students are given. Included are rules…

This report describes the status of competency testing in vocational and technical education in the United States in 1988-89. Data were derived from a mailed questionnaire sent to State Liaison Representatives of the National Network for Curriculum Coordination in Vocational-Technical Education. Of a total of 69 surveys, 39 responses were returned…

Intended for use by school administrators, guidance counselors, teachers, and proctors, this manual contains general information on Regents examinations and competency tests. Specifically, the regulations and procedures for ordering, administering, and rating these examinations are described. Information is also included about the competency…

Forest Grove High School (FGHS) is a suburban school in Oregon that implemented an extensive remediation program to increase the mathematics scores of its learners taking the state-mandated competency examination, the Oregon Statewide Assessment Test (OSAT). Learners who failed at least two of the mathematics sections of the 1998 OSAT, taken when…

The National Institute of Education's hearings on minimum competency testing sought to educate the public about both sides of the issue. This article summarizes the ground rules for the hearings and the five points of inquiry debated. (WD)

Reviews the possible dangers of mandated competency testing and suggests some alternatives. (JM)

Examines each of the four arguments aginst the North Carolina competency testing program: that the test will result in denial of equal protection of the law, in a violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and in a denial of both procedural and substantive due process. (Author/IRT)

Reports the results of a national survey that assessed the extent of minimum competency testing in reading in 1984 and the nature and extent of remedial programs based upon minimum competency testing in reading. (HOD)