Larger high schools were surveyed about curricular changes planned or made in response to the Competency Testing and Back to Basics movements. Questions concerned changes in basic skills emphasis, graduation requirements, and competency test usage in mathematics, reading, and writing. Results are given for each questionnaire item. (SJL)

Provides an overview of state-mandated minimum competency testing programs. Describes the potential impact of competency testing on the school counselor. Proposes actions counselors might take to protect student well-being and counselor functions from misdirected regulation. (RC)

This report examines the assessment of competence in nursing and midwifery education in Britain within a context of changes in health needs, values about health care and service provision, policy/ideology, and education. Chapter 1 explores alternative approaches to conceptualizing the issues involved in the study of assessment, competence, and…

A major initiative in Australia is a general and pervasive obsession with competency-based training and assessment. There is a real danger that the selling of competency-based training (CBT) and competency-based assessment (CBA) is greater than what it can offer. One criticism focuses on CBT, the other on CBA, although in most instances where CBT…

Content, instructional, and curricular validity, as related to certification tests, are examined. All three deal with content validity but the domain differs among the the three. Certification tests must have instructional validity, i.e., the test must be valid both with respect to the domain used to define the minimum competencies and the…

The minimum competency movement's rationale can be reduced to four problem-laden propositions: the state through its schools owes every child an education; a high school graduate should be at least minimally competent; schools should be held accountable for seeing to it that every child meets this standard; and to assure this, every child must be…

Guidelines for setting performance standards for minimum competency testing are suggested. Because qualitative judgments are involved, certain options should be considered, such as periodic reviews and necessary revisions of standards; use of experience-based rather than arbitrary standards; and thorough consideration of standards, even if the…

The Oregon State Board of Education has rejected the use of cut-off scores on a proficiency test to establish minimum performance standards for high school graduation. Instead, each school district is required to specify--by local board adoption--minimum competencies in reading, writing, listening, speaking, analyzing, and computing. These…

Two issues, one familiar and the other less so, emerge from the controversy over declining scores on standardized tests in the United States and the growing movement toward minimal competency testing mandated by government. The familiar issue involves the balance between egalitarianism and elitism in American education. The second, a reemerging…

This packet consists of explanatory materials on the Missouri Marketing Education Competency Profile and related information. Section 1 describes the mission of marketing education, marketing occupations, curriculum framework, and curriculum alignment for the 1996 profile. Section 2 addresses 1996 revisions to the Missouri Marketing Education Core…

Developed as part of the Arkansas Minimum Performance Testing Program (MPT), these item specifications relate to the eighth grade language arts minimum performance test. There is one item specification for each instructional objective included in the MPT. Item specifications are intended to provide an overview of the general content and format of…

In 1984 the Louisiana State Superintendent of Education directed the Bureau of Evaluation to conduct a study of alternative testing strategies for the State, keeping in mind the possibility that retaining the current testing program was an alternative to be considered. The Bureau designed a study calling for the involvement of four distinct…

The purpose of the practicum described in this report was to develop a competency-based vocational articulation pilot project between Mercer County Community College (MCCC) located in Trenton, New Jersey, and four secondary schools for three subjects: Typewriting I and II, Stenography I and II, and Office Procedures. Chapters I and II provide an…

This study addresses the baseline assessment of pupil composing competencies at age 11+. It asks whether it might be possible for these to be evaluated by the use of a whole-class listening task. A rationale for this proposal is discussed. Results from a pilot study which administered an original audiated puzzle-task to a cohort of pupils,…

This report is an indepth study of the competency movement. It probes current methods of constructing, administering, evaluating, and explaining competency tests; it gives detailed accounts of specific state and local programs; it presents case histories that can enable the administrator and educator to benefit from the experience of others; and…