Argues for the value of high-quality minimum competency testing (MCT) programs in efforts to restore honesty to public school promotion practices. Lists the seven characteristics of a good program and discusses the effects of MCT on students, on curriculum and teaching, and on public perceptions of schooling. (Author/WD)

Competency testing for either graduation from high school, or as a method for assessing whether a student should advance to a higher grade level, is the focus of this annotated bibliography. Included are annotations that relate to accountability, competency testing, program descriptions where competency testing is utilized, general testing…

Mastery of sixteen "life skills" tasks will be a Seattle Public Schools graduation requirement beginning in 1981. Five forms of the Minimum Competencies Performance Test, which will be used to measure mastery of those tasks, are presently being developed and field tested. This report presents the results of the analysis of the first…

Competency-based graduation requirements provide students with a meaningful diploma, reduce illiteracy, and provide a system of quality control for schools. (Author)

Students graduating from Westside High must meet hour and competency test requirements. The seven competency tests are in reading, writing, mathematics, democratic process, problem-solving, oral communication, and consumerism. (IRT)

This report presents baseline findings from a 3-year study of state exit exams. The study involved data from all states with current or planned exit exams; case studies of five states; and research review. Researchers examined: why so many states are adopting high school exit exams, impacts of exit exams on students, what the exams are like, and…

This document introduces the Alabama Graduation Examination Program (AGEP) which provides learning opportunities for high school students to meet the minimum competency requirements to earn a high school diploma in the state of Alabama. The Alabama High School Graduation Examination (AHSGE) content includes the subject areas of reading…

A judicial decision on issues raised by state diploma denial found that competency testing of Florida's high school students as a graduation requirement violated due process by not providing students with adequate notice. The court prescribed some degree of curricular validity to determine whether the test covered materials actually taught.…

In addition to stigmatizing and prejudicing the future of young people, the denial of a high school diploma based on test scores represents a waste of public funds and human resources. In recent years, however, the educational system has been increasingly concerned with testing school children rather than teaching them. (Author/GC

Despite demonstrated success of a graduation competency testing policy in Tatnall County (Georgia), a judge ruled that the policy violated due process because the school district could not show that the items on the test were actually taught in the schools. (WD)

Examines the possibility of legal challenges to minimum competency tests on the grounds that they violate freedom of expression (including the right to remain silent), privacy, and substantive due process guarantees. Available from the Catholic University Law Review, Catholic University of America School of Law, Room 1 Washington, D.C. 20064; sc…

Comparison of state graduation requirements found significant differences in the exit documents awarded to students with disabilities, with similar requirements sometimes earning different types of exit documents in different states. It was also found that 44 states use Carnegie course unit requirements and 17 states have minimum competency…

The packet includes a manual describing the Michigan Life Role Competencies (MLRC), a set of appropriate expectations for high school graduates, and an adapted version of those competencies for special education students. MLRC addresses four major areas in functional adult living: (1) employability and occupational skills; (2) personal and family…

The second round of litigation in the case of Debra P. v. Turlington has required the Federal courts to consider the question whether the Florida statute which requires public high school graduates to demonstrate the "ability to successfully apply basic skills to every day life situations" as measured by the State Student Assessment…

Some insights into the development of an eleventh grade test of "adult functional competency" are provided. The evolution of the test from its first mention to its translation into a test item pool is traced. An attempt is made to identify some of the instructional, measurement, and legal implications inherent in various decisions which…