As a result of the increasing insistence that schools should concentrate on teaching basic skills, states and school districts have moved to establish minimum competencies for high school graduation, to be assessed by tests that demonstrate that students have achieved a certain level of mastery of basic skills. The Austin, Texas, Independent School District's board of trustees passed in 1975 the first version of the minimum competency testing requirement for Austin public school students. It stated that students not demonstrating an eighth grade competence (as measured by standard achievement tests) in reading and math cannot graduate from Austin high schools. The problems encountered in implementing the board's mandate, such as test selection, test security, and test administration, are described in this speech. (Author/DS)