Discusses the political and legal issues in minimum competency testing. Indicates that local educational policymakers and administrators must resist further centralization and take action to devise their own programs. (JOW)

Summarizes and supports the position of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Project Committee, which favors a state-provided educational framework of goals, funding, and monitoring technical assistance, and the establishment by local school districts of their own instructional programs that meet individual needs rather than…

Indicates that national statistics show declining numbers of unskilled jobs and large numbers of semiliterate and illiterate high school graduates; argues that minimum competency requirements can benefit both individuals and society. Observes that recent judicial decisions have usurped the right to set educational policy, which constitutionally…

In this article, both the psychology behind minimum competency testing (MCT) and the statistics employed to determine the line between competence and incompetence are attacked. MCT is viewed as a crisis created to discredit teachers and schools and as a means of invasion of public education by state level bureaucrats and politicians. (RLV)

Argues against using results of minimum competency testing (MCT) as the sole determinant of student classification, promotion, or condition for graduation from high school. Favors accountability, but asserts that MCT is not the best alternative available. (WD)

Wisconsin has a local options competency-testing policy for public schools: participating districts receive state assistance, but are subject to regulations on test development and use. This paper examines influences on school district program adoption, focusing on local support for any testing program and superintendents' attitudes toward state…

Many readers will agree that the conditions in our schools need improvement, that problems in schools are closely linked with the problems in our society, and that local control has diminished. The yielding of local control has contributed substantially to these problems. Uniform standards and minimum performance criteria have been tried and the…

Acknowledges the need for state-level educational accountability, but argues that strategies for assessing educational outcomes should be an institutional prerogative and an integral part of the teaching/learning process. Criticizes assessment programs imposed by state governments, proposing instead a student-centered approach to the measurement…

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…

After reviewing some problems raised by Minimum Competency Testing (MCT), the authors present ideas on the role of the State Education Agencies in defining minimum competencies. Among the items discussed are the implementation time of MCT, curricular implications, the impact on children, the financing of remediation, and state versus local control…

This four-part report deals with minimal competency testing with a focus on test development and the federal role in competency testing. The first section presents highlights of a 1978 conference on "Achievement Testing and Basic Skills" chaired by Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Joseph Califano. The second section contains the…

This paper considers the implementation of Student Performance Standards (SPS) in Queensland, Australia, and their implications for teacher education. Student testing procedures in various Australian states and territories are described. A theoretical framework, grounded in Australian educational history, is elaborated for understanding the…

California's 1980 proficiency law, which is the topic of this report, mandated that each school district was to adopt or construct tests and establish standards for assessing proficiency in reading, writing, and computation on tasks that were necessary to success in school and in life. In order to graduate from high school, a student must have…

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;…

Collected in this volume are the papers presented at the 1978 Chief State School Officers Summer Institute. The program was devoted to political issues in education and focused on a number of current educational problems. Political issues were discussed in relation to a number of areas, including federal education priorities, federal-state…