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…

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…

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;…