This article reports an evaluation of a GeroRich effort to increase age-specific content throughout bachelor and master-level social work curricula. A total of 426 students (128 BSWs and 298 MSWs) completed pre and posttests in 2004-2005, self-rating their aging competency using the Social Work with Aging Skill Competency Scale II (New York…

Albert Shanker, President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), speaks about the national testing of teachers and calls for the creation of a new and better national examination for new teachers. While members of the AFT have a few differences with some of the current reform proposals, the AFT in general supports the overwhelming majority…

Barbara Jordan served as the hearing officer for three-day adversary evaluation hearings about the pros and cons of minimum competency testing (MCT). This report is the complete transcript of the third day of proceedings. The pro team testimony, led by James Popham, began with William Raspberry, who presented his view of the likely impact of MCT.…

The mathematics performance of 1,098 learning disabled (LD) Florida tenth graders on the Florida State Assessment Test-II was evaluated. LD students tended to perform better on skills requiring literal use of numbers and worse on skills requiring application of mathematical knowledge. Employers' ratings supported the importance of skills tested.…

The study reviewed the performance of 300 educable mentally retarded 10th graders on the Florida State Student Assessment Test which evaluates specified minimum performance standards in basic academic skills. Retarded students scored lower and were less likely than other students to attain the required level of mastery prior to graduation.…

Minimum Competency Testing for high school students is discussed with regard to its development, use, potential, and administration. Various suggestions are presented to help teachers and administrators use the test results more effectively and minimize student and parental fears that low test scores will constitute a barrier to a high school…

Minimum competency testing programs may discriminate against handicapped students. Action must be taken, this article warns, to assure that such programs do not emerge as an exclusionary practice that will require years to overcome. (Author)

Standards-based score reports interpret test performance with reference to cut scores defining categories like "below basic," "proficient," or "master." This article first develops a conceptual framework for validity arguments supporting such interpretations, then presents three applications. Two of these serve to introduce new standard-setting…

A solution is offered to problems associated with the inequality in the manipulability of probabilities of classification errors of masters versus nonmasters, based on competency test results. Eschewing the typical arbitrary establishment of observed-score standards below 100 percent, the solution incorporates a self-correction of wrong answers.…

This study examined the assessment literacy of primary/junior teacher candidates in all four years of their concurrent program. Candidates from each year of the program completed a survey pertaining to self-described level of assessment literacy, main purposes of assessment, utilization of different assessment methods, need for further training,…

This report is part of an overall regional needs assessment effort undertaken by Research by Better schools and it summarizes test results from state education agencies in the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Performance trends over the past several years were analyzed. Major findings indicate that: (1)…

This report on competency testing utilizes a literature review, examines the state of the art to define competencies, and presents information from the field to delineate programmatic and administrative questions and their implications. Information was collected from school districts implementing minimum competency testing (MCT) programs through…

Forest Grove High School (FGHS) is a suburban school in Oregon that implemented an extensive remediation program to increase the mathematics scores of its learners taking the state-mandated competency examination, the Oregon Statewide Assessment Test (OSAT). Learners who failed at least two of the mathematics sections of the 1998 OSAT, taken when…

Reports on the positive outcomes that resulted from implementing a competency program in writing at a high school. (RL)

For fear of blaming the victims, educators have been reluctant to endorse strategies requiring hard work from students as a condition for learning. U.S. students are working far below their potential because they experience no reason to do otherwise. The United States one of the rare developed nations without a high-stakes exit examination for…