The origins, accomplishments, problems, and implications of competence-based reforms in higher education are examined. Competence-based education is defined as that form of education that derives a curriculum from an analysis of a prospective or actual role in modern society and that attempts to certify student progress on the bases of…

A project set out to develop and test adult performance level (APL) materials for pre-vocational programs to enable adults to develop those skills needed to seek and retain employment. Addressing the APL area of occupational knowledge only, methodology focused on (1) joint planning in material development and testing; (2) extensive training in…

Summaries are presented of the problems and issues of minimum competency testing which were discussed at four regional conferences for political and educational practitioners. The Education Commission of the States sponsored the conferences, but took no official position of support or opposition. Section 1 compares the legislative, practitioner,…

An examination of the current status of minimum competency testing is presented in a series of short essays, which discuss case studies of individual school systems and state approaches. Sections are also included on the viewpoints of critics and supporters, teachers and teacher organizations, principals and students, and the federal government.…

A variety of viewpoints were represented in this symposium for chief state school officials and senior staff of state departments of education. Russell Vlaanderen, Education Commission of the States, opened with a national overview: "The Policy Implications of Minimum Competency Testing: The Case of the Standardized Student." Attorney…

This document contains testimony, prepared statements, letters, and supplemental materials submitted during two days of hearings held in September, 1977. Under consideration was a bill to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require state educational agencies to establish basic standards of educational proficiency applicable…

This project report outlines the entry-level competencies required for student success in 13 vocational programs at Pensacola Junior College: Accounting Technician; Computer Programming/Operations; Core Program--Major Appliances, Air Conditioning and Heating, Maintenance Technology, and Industrial Electricity; Cosmetology; Dental Hygiene;…

The Developmental Studies Department (DSD) at Rockland Community College (RCC), in Suffern, New York, provides courses and services to assist students lacking college-level skills in the areas of reading, writing, mathematics, study skills, and English. An additional pilot project, the RCC/Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) has…

The first part of this report is a question-and-answer survey of minimum competency legislation, testing programs, and remedial programs. It includes the questions of both the educator and the lay person. Topics include: minimum competency tests, the debate over minimum competency programs, what happens after testing, and what citizens should look…

Three areas of concern for those considering competency-based graduation requirements are discussed. First, what is involved in implementing a competency-based graduation requirement? The first tasks are the specification of performance standards and the performance skill areas. Then, appropriate certification procedures can be selected, and their…

Addressing often neglected broad issues, rather than the pragmatics of test development and administration, this Conference on Minimum Competency Achievement Testing was organized around six topics: (1) social and philosophical roots, uniqueness among testing movements, and policy issues; (2) legal, curricular, and social-demographic consequences;…

Little is known about the costs of setting up and implementing legislated minimal competency testing (MCT). To estimate the financial obstacles which lie between the idea and its implementation, MCT requirements are viewed from two perspectives. The first, government regulation, views legislated minimal competency requirements as an attempt by the…

Public Act 84-126 amended The School Code of Illinois to include a definition of schooling and a requirement that the goals for learning be identified and assessed. This document identifies state goals for language arts education in grades 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12, and includes a sample set of district level learning objectives consistent with those…

Proficiency testing, the measurement of what a person can do as a result of learning, is used increasingly in higher education to determine whether students have mastered basic skills or whether they deserve credits for specific courses (which they may not have actually taken). The motivation for proficiency testing stems from general…

This publication (in both English and French versions) on learner assessment in workplace literacy programs begins with a discourse on some dimensions of the testing question. It discusses three major approaches to assessment in the broader area of adult literacy that can shed light in the domain of workplace literacy: traditional, competency…