In this paper the author shares his concerns about minimal competency testing, fearing that the minimum may become the maximum. He discusses this fear based on examples from the English curriculum--Language, Writing, and Literature. (KC)

Discusses the arguments for and against minimum competency testing, noting that the same issues are used to support both positions. (FL)

The state laws currently being passed to promote competency-based education and testing are so lacking in detail and so unrealistic in their expectations that they will do little to restore public confidence in education and may even have a disruptive influence. (SJL)

Describes the five-year effort of the Allentown, Pennsylvania School District to develop districtwide final examinations to test the mastery of course objective in its secondary schools. (FL)

This satire about a school for animals lampoons the idea that students of varying abilities and talents can be fairly judged by a single set of proficiency standards developed by teachers. (SJL)

The author presents an overview of the Competency-Based Education (CBE) movement, including the impetus for it and its advantages and disadvantages. (SJL)

The author refutes arguments used by the critics of Competency Based Education (CBE), but also states that CBE cannot succeed without real commitment and the careful planning of several key components. (SJL)

Argues that content area teachers should assume the major responsibility for preparing students in the areas commonly assessed in minimum competency tests. Sets forth four problems in convincing content area teachers to assume this role and offers techniques for persuading them to do so. (FL)

Suggests that behavioral objectives and minimum competency testing can be effective for monitoring elementary students' mastery of basic skills, but to carry this system into the upper grades and other subject areas risks stultifying learning and inhibiting the free atmosphere that complex thinking and social education require. (SJL)

Minimum competency testing seems here to stay. The challenge to teachers is to promote public realization that test performance cannot completely measure complex skills; that mandated basic skills instruction may be an oversimplification of the teaching/learning process; and that definitions of minimum competence constantly change. (SJL)

Competency testing is only one component of competency-based education (CBE); the others are: educational objectives, instructional process, remedial instruction, and program evaluation/reconceptualization. To implement only competency testing may result in disillusionment with the entire concept of CBE, which seeks to improve programs, not fail…

Two years after the implementation of Florida's Educational Accountability Act, which mandates statewide competency testing in reading, writing, and arithmetic, the author cites the advantages of the program, refutes criticisms of it and reviews the challenge to it in Federal District court, the Debra P. V. Turlington case. (SJL)