The Debra P. versus Turlington case marked the first major inquiry into content validity of a student competency testing program. The Florida federal district court determined material assessed on the test had been taught in Florida's classrooms. Schools may deny regular diplomas to students who fail the test. (DWH)

Instructional validity of the Florida graduation test and the degree to which students were given proper preparation to pass it were studied. The Florida model illustrates procedures are available to demonstrate to the court that required skills are being taught to prepare students for success on competency tests. (DWH)

A survey of students and personnel from 28 schools in 20 counties to assess the impact of the Florida State Student Assessment Test and remedial practices on vocational enrollments revealed that, contrary to belief, vocational education enrollments increased while total school enrollments declined. (Author)

The second round of litigation in the case of Debra P. v. Turlington has required the Federal courts to consider the question whether the Florida statute which requires public high school graduates to demonstrate the "ability to successfully apply basic skills to every day life situations" as measured by the State Student Assessment…

Florida mandated high school competency tests in 1978. Evidence presented in the court case of Debra P. versus Turlington indicated students learn what they are taught. Low failure districts reported more concentration on basic skills. The issue of educational equity versus educational excellence has not been more resolved. (DWH)

This study compared performance of 300 mildly handicapped and 300 nonhandicapped adolescents on the Florida State Student Assessment Test, Part II, a test measuring functional literacy in math and communication skills. Substantial differences indicate severe consequences for handicapped students forced to pass minimum competency tests to graduate…

The 1986 scores from the Statewide Student Assessment Test-II, a minimum-competency test required for high school graduation in Florida, were placed on the scale of the 1984 scores from that test using five different equating procedures: (1) linear method; (2) Rasch model; (3) three-parameter item response theory (IRT)--concurrent method; (4)…

A study was conducted to assess the impact of the Florida State Student Assessment Test (FSSAT) (Functional Literacy Test) on the enrollment in secondary-level vocational education courses. The 67 school districts in Florida were grouped according to population density into three levels of urbanization (low, medium, and high). Ten percent of the…

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…