A pilot test of 29 (78 percent) first-year trade and industrial (T&I) teachers who took the Connecticut Competency Examination for Prospective Teachers compared their scores with those of general education majors. Only 21 percent of the T&I teachers passed, suggesting the need for better basic skills preparation in T&I teacher…

Summarizes the basic skills testing programs of Pennsylvania State University, City University of New York, University System of Georgia, and the state of New Jersey. Discusses the use of test results, remedial courses offered, administration of the programs, and program evaluation. (JM)

Conflicting definitions reveal the diversity of motives and goals in the back-to-basics movement. Dealing with the problem must include consideration of the impact of television, the realization that basic and nonbasic education are complementary, and the need for coordination of K-12 and postsecondary education. (JMF)

These joint statements by the Academic Senates of the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and the University of California address the concern that students are underprepared for college-level work. First, "Statement on Competencies in English and Mathematics Expected of Entering Freshmen," which was prepared…

A workshop attended by faculty members from three Florida junior colleges and one university was held in response to legislation requiring students to demonstrate minimum communications and computation skills before entering upper division programs. General conclusions reached during the workshop focused on the value of competency testing in…

The College Outcome Measures Project (COMP) was organized to design, develop, validate, and disseminate assessment instruments and procedures to measure and evaluate the knowledge and skills that undergraduate students are expected to acquire as a result of general or liberal education programs, as well as those important to effective functioning…

This document, one of 12 guides that have been developed to facilitate evaluation by and for local education agency (LEA) personnel in Illinois, covers assessing basic skills through a set of activities for making professional decisions regarding remediation, individualized learning, and program and course improvements and for making status…

This report presents results of a study addressing two questions: (1) the role of certificates, licenses, diplomas, and other creditials in a decentralized vocational education system of public and proprietary schools, community colleges, union apprenticeships, the military, and correspondence schools and (2) the role that certification can play…