Prescriptive instruction should be developed for all students, ensuring that each will have the opportunity to achieve to the maximum of his or her ability. (Author/MLF)

The potential of minimum competency testing cannot be realized unless school districts engage in the complex processes of competency-based program development. (Author/MLF)

Explores materials in the ERIC system that discuss all sides of the minimum competency issue. (RL)

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

The literature on competency-based human resource (HR) management provides a strong case for moving from a jobs-based to a competency-based approach to human resources. There is agreement in the literature (Dubois, Rothwell, Stern, & Kemp, 2004; Lucia & Lepsinger, 1999) on the benefits of using competencies throughout HR systems and impact…

Examination of results of several cases in which students failed minimum competency tests evokes criticism of the way the testing program is carried out by the state. (JD)

Examines the movement for minimal competencies in the schools. (IRT)

The popular educational reform trend toward competency testing is appropriate to measure achievement in the basic skills areas, but competency testing in core curriculum areas may cause teachers to teach for the test, lead to minimal standards at the expense of excellence, and stifle the transfer of learning and creativity. (CB)

Instructional validity of the Florida graduation test and the degree to which students were given proper preparation to pass it were studied. The Florida model illustrates procedures are available to demonstrate to the court that required skills are being taught to prepare students for success on competency tests. (DWH)

The trend toward competency-based education and competency testing is the work of legislators and politicians, not educators. Some of the latter express serious reservations about it. The minimum competency testing movement is a result of the effort to integrate minorities into the mainstream of society. (JOW)

Satirizes the teaching of basic skills in isolation and the placing of test results above true learning. (RL)

Reports on the positive outcomes that resulted from implementing a competency program in writing at a high school. (RL)

The text of a conversation with a Florida special education administrator explores such aspects as the skills that are being tested, how standards were derived, the effects of testing on curricula, special diplomas, and the improvement in scores noted in the second year of the testing. (DLS)

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)

Minimum competency testing is not so much an educational movement as it is a power struggle. State legislatures will be the winners; teachers and poor students the losers. (Author)