Educational accountability is central to the reputation of the nation's community colleges. Some community colleges are adopting mastery learning, competency-based education, curriculum tracking, and/or minimum competency-testing as a means of remaining educationally accountable. Mastery learning programs, under which students are required to…

Georgia Institute of Technology has created a preparatory workshop that avoids focusing composition courses on the state competency exam while helping its students pass the exam. In checking the exams of students who had failed, three problems appeared: lack of motivation, lack of awareness of the standards for grading the exam, and an inability…

In a survey of 51 state science supervisors, 93 percent of the supervisors who replied said that state-wide minimum-competency testing did not assess science learning. (BB)

Developers of high stakes criterion-referenced tests are urged to formulate test tasks so that efficient instruction can promote student mastery of the domain. Time-on-task has been promoted by instructional psychologists as preferable to test teaching. (DWH)

Florida mandated high school competency tests in 1978. Evidence presented in the court case of Debra P. versus Turlington indicated students learn what they are taught. Low failure districts reported more concentration on basic skills. The issue of educational equity versus educational excellence has not been more resolved. (DWH)

This paper describes the philosophic assumptions underlying the movement towards minimum competency testing. Definitions of such concepts as scientific educational management, what is worth knowing, and the knower are explored. (DF)

Reveals 16 findings of a study on whether high schools using Competency-Based Testing altered their curriculum differently than Non-Competency-Based-Testing Schools and, if so, what factors (e.g., school size, ethnic makeup, or community type) contributed to the differences. Makes seven recommendations based on study findings. (DMM)

Minimum competencies are being imposed on the schools by state legislators frustrated by declining academic achievement. Teachers must not allow this movement to engender a "teaching for the test" mentality. They must work for a balanced curriculum, good remedial programs, and competency tests which provide real feedback for teaching. (SJL)

The process of setting performance standards must be examined within the particular context in which specific approaches have been used to construct or select the criterion performance measures being utilized. (Author/RLV)

The objective of the study was to determine whether Competency-Based Testing (CBT) schools altered their curriculum differently than Non-Competency-Based Testing schools (NCBT), and, if so, what selected factors were identified as contributing to the differences among the responses secondary schools made to CBT. The data from 410 member high…

By 1985, nearly half of the nation's public school students will be required to pass a minimum competency test (MCT) for high school graduation. Supporters of objectives underlying the MCTs suggest that the tests will force school systems to take their responsibilities to all children more seriously. Critics argue that students who fail will…

This monograph briefly describes state legislation and administrative rules concerning competency-based education. Defeated legislation is also included. In 1978-79 California, Nevada, and New York are requiring graduating seniors to pass a proficiency exam before receiving a diploma. In Nevada and New York similar exams are administered to…

The Nebraska Assessment Battery of Essential Learning Skills (N-ABELS) is a goal-oriented instrument with an evaluation component providing a basis for determining acquisition of twelve skills defined as learning goals. Each goal is stated in terms of an acceptable performance standard which clearly describes what the student must do. The skills…

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…