A variety of methods are used to assess secondary school seniors in Australia to determine college admission: locally-developed achievement tests in curricular subjects; external achievement tests; and general aptitude tests, such as the Australian Scholastic Aptitude Tests. Testing problems include aggregating and rescaling of scores. (GDC)

A New York State task force determined that the education system in the state must be changed to prepare youth for the high-performance workplaces of the future. According to the task force, the state must establish globally competitive standards for what youth must know and be able to do as they enter the workplace or postsecondary education.…

The Texas Skills Development Program (TSDP) is a key long-term strategy of the Smart Jobs initiative that will assist Texas business, industry, and labor in conveying job skill requirements to the public education and training system. Employers feel that job applicants do not have the basic reading, writing, and computation skills they need. TSDP…

The purpose of this paper is to report on the processes followed and the modifications made to the Alabama state minimum competency testing program for exceptional students, as well as to provide results for exceptional students tested through spring 1985. A committee of lay citizens and professional educators identified basic competencies in…

Thorough planning is required before implementing an examination for a high school diploma. It was decided in 1977 that Alabama educators would establish minimum competencies for grades 3, 6, and 9. The competencies for grade 9 then became the skills to be assessed on the Alabama High School Graduation Examination (AHSGE), first given to eleventh…

This paper presents the dual approach to item bias detection employed in the Maryland Functional Testing Program (MFTP). Using instructional objectives mandated by the Maryland State Board of Education, the MFTP develops two levels of the Maryland Functional Reading Test (MFRT) and the Maryland Functional Mathematics Tests (MFMT). These…

This issue comprises seven articles that share ways Equipped for the Future's (EFF's) partners are using EFF to help adults build the skills they need to be successful in the workforce. "Building and Certifying Work Readiness" discusses the Work Readiness Credential being developed that will define, measure, and certify that individuals…

This bibliography shows how various states are dealing with the work force crisis and provides examples of tech prep articulation agreements. Forty citations from ERIC and other databases include guides, research reports, project descriptions, conference papers, and position papers. Three articles, representative of current wisdom in the field,…