The study compared minimum competency test scores of approximately 1,000 learning disabled Florida tenth graders with those of regular class peers and surveyed 200 employers concerning the perceived importance of the competency test skills. Item performance, skill performance, and mastery scores on the State Student Assessment Test-II (SSAT-II)…

The faculties of the postsecondary institutions in Florida, using the authority of the State Board of Education, have implemented a testing program that increases the assurance that all students who complete their sophomore year in college have achieved the communication and computation skills expected of them. (Author/MLW)

The hypothesis that role-playing scenarios specifying full rhetorical contexts were a superior means of eliciting valid writing samples for the purpose of assessing compositional skills of prospective Florida teachers was tested. In addition, topics for use on the initial administrations of the Florida Teacher Competency Examination's writing…

A review of the literature on the effects upon student writing performance of variations in essay examination topics reveals that such research is sparce and that most of it has been done in the past 5 years. The review, which was conducted as part of a project to develop the writing test portion of the Florida Teacher Certification Examination,…

Bob Algozzine et al. studied Florida's minimum competency testing as a requirement for high school graduation and wrote a report titled "Analysis of Basic Skill Competencies of Learning Disabled Adolescents," from which this one-page summary was prepared. The study sample included 938 regular class students and 1,098 learning-disabled…

This manual is designed as a guide for the initial training of raters and referees in holistic evaluation of writing samples. It is intended for use by a single trainer in a group of twelve (nine raters, three referees) trainees. The manual is divided into sections corresponding to the procedures to be used in the training sessions. The left hand…

Technical problems involved in obtaining scores for essays written by teacher candidates are addressed. The rating procedure assures that each essay is read by three raters specially trained for the task. Ratings range from "1" for incompetent or unacceptable to "4" for outstanding. The score assigned to each essay will be the…

The writing examination package is divided into three volumes: Examination Handbook (present volume), Training Manual, and a Ratings Manual. The volumes are interdependent, and all three must be understood before using the Training Manual to train raters. The Examination Handbook provides a context for the other two volumes. It gives a general…

New minimum high school graduation standards were mandated for 1978-79 graduates, by Florida's Educational Accountability Act of 1976. Requirements included mastery of basic skills, completion of minimum course credits, and satisfactory performance on functional literacy tests. The literacy test was the primary criterion for graduation. On its…