Performance-based accreditation has been adopted by a number of states as a means of assuring that local school systems are maintaining quality education programs. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the amount of variance in burnout among Alabama public school teachers and principals that could be accounted for by stress related to…

A Texas committee on educational reform held hearings in 1984 on the implementation of career ladder and teacher competency testing plans. These reforms were enacted by the legislature late that year. In the spring of 1984, 1985, and 1986, three surveys were undertaken to determine how teachers felt about these reforms as proposed and later…

The study compared minimum competency test scores of approximately 1,000 learning disabled Florida tenth graders with those of regular class peers and surveyed 200 employers concerning the perceived importance of the competency test skills. Item performance, skill performance, and mastery scores on the State Student Assessment Test-II (SSAT-II)…

This report is a summary of the Basic Skills Task Force activities covering the period from August 1982 to June 30, 1983. The Task Force was created by the West Virginia Board of Education in 1982. The report provides information on the historical background of the Task Force, a summary of how it functioned, and recommendations of the Task Force…

A study was conducted to determine if significant attitudinal differences concerning evaluation by principals could be found between Mississippi's kindergarten teachers and other grade-level teachers immediately after administrators had evaluated teachers with the Mississippi Teacher Assessment Instruments (MTAI). Designed to assess minimum…

Minimum competency testing in American schools was examined for its effects on low-achieving high school students. Interviews with educators and results of a survey of more than 700 high school students were used. In the view of many educators, minimum competency tests were so rudimentary as to not be much of a barrier to completing school. Most…

The sources of variability in the Angoff standard-setting procedure, when applied to the Alabama High School Graduation Examination (AHSGE), were examined. The sources of variability examined are judges, rounds (replications), competencies (items), and interactions among these three sources. After training, the judges were given a statement of a…

Proposed 1989 standards will raise the passing score on the College Level Academic Skills Test from 275 to 295 in computation, from 270 to 295 in reading and writing, and from 4 to 5 on the essay test. A study was conducted at Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC) to examine the impact of these proposed standards on the passing rates of students…

Results of the Tennessee Basic Skills Test administered statewide to more than 64,000 grade 8 pupils in April 1980 demonstrate that achievement of pupils with kindergarten background is superior to that of non-kindergarten pupils in mathematics, spelling, language, and reading. The effect was greater for mathematics and language than for reading…

Georgia Institute of Technology has created a preparatory workshop that avoids focusing composition courses on the state competency exam while helping its students pass the exam. In checking the exams of students who had failed, three problems appeared: lack of motivation, lack of awareness of the standards for grading the exam, and an inability…

Observing that an undesirable byproduct of competency testing for teacher certification has been a nationwide decrease in the number of Blacks entering teaching, this article analyzes Louisiana data on race of National Teacher Examinations takers and declining percentages of Blacks entering the profession. (MJL)

Reveals 16 findings of a study on whether high schools using Competency-Based Testing altered their curriculum differently than Non-Competency-Based-Testing Schools and, if so, what factors (e.g., school size, ethnic makeup, or community type) contributed to the differences. Makes seven recommendations based on study findings. (DMM)

The degree to which it is possible to identify, from data in their cumulative folders, students likely to fail a high school competency test is investigated. Results indicated that some predictor variables could be used to identify those likely to fail Senior High Assessment of Reading Progress and the Test of Proficiency in Computational Skills.…

A survey of 46 states found that about half the states are using or studying special education teacher competency tests. The paper analyzes survey results by specific content areas being tested, including basic knowledge, identification and characteristics of special needs students, processing skills, assessment, learning theory, teaching…

This paper evaluates relations among criterion-referenced test scores, subsequent predicted remediation need decisions, and actual performance without remediation on Georgia's state minimal competency test. Results from examining 1,310 students' scores indicated that many students would have been required to be remediated who subsequently passed…