The events surrounding legal challenges to minimum competency testing programs are described, and ways of coping with the experiences are suggested. Discussion primarily is based on five legal challenges to the Florida program although reference is made to suits in other states for contrast. Whenever a student is faced with a threat to promotion…

A judicial decision on issues raised by state diploma denial found that competency testing of Florida's high school students as a graduation requirement violated due process by not providing students with adequate notice. The court prescribed some degree of curricular validity to determine whether the test covered materials actually taught.…

Minimum competency testing has been mandated in one form or another by local school boards or by legislatures in 36 states. Court consideration of such testing has focused on the intent and the consequences of the testing. Where racial segregation in education has existed, courts have argued that even several years after desegregation, testing can…

Recent criticism of public education has led to demands for educational improvement. Responses to this criticism include the development of minimum competency tests (MCTs) and calls for increased academic requirements. This paper reviews a national survey of state graduation requirements that reveals a wide variance in requirements. Eighteen…

After reviewing three current approaches to handling students who fail to meet minimum competency standards, the author proposes a new approach to minimum competency testing. The three common reactions are: (1) doing nothing to help failing students; (2) denying students their high school diplomas; and (3) requiring students to take remedial…

Handicapped students are now protected by specific statutes in addition to the broad constitutional protection offered all students. As the number of related statutes, regulations, and case law decisions grew, assimilation became increasingly difficult. This publication attempts to meet educators' need for a succinct guide in special education…

This book is a compilation of 17 papers presented at the 1979 convention of the National Organization on Legal Problems of Education. The authors are, for the most part, attorneys or educators specializing in school law. Most of the papers introduce a topic currently raising legal problems across the country and discuss the pertinent facts of and…

A wide variety of contemporary legal issues, involving all levels of public and private education, are addressed in the 20 separate chapters comprising this volume. The titles and authors of the chapters are as follows: (1) Due Process of Law: Loudermill v. Cleveland Board of Education (Hooker); (2) Schools, Technology and the Law (Helm); (3)…