False positive and false negative error rates were studied for competency testing when failing examinees are permitted to retake the test. Formulas are provided for the beta-binomial and Rasch models. Estimates based on these models are compared for six data sets from the South Carolina Basic Skills Assessment Program. (SLD)

A pilot test of 29 (78 percent) first-year trade and industrial (T&I) teachers who took the Connecticut Competency Examination for Prospective Teachers compared their scores with those of general education majors. Only 21 percent of the T&I teachers passed, suggesting the need for better basic skills preparation in T&I teacher…

The teacher education profession must develop a program to assess essential elements of professional knowledge comprising a teacher education curricula so that institutions can prepare teachers who can demonstrate that they have gained an acceptable mastery of cognitive and affective learning. (Author/CB)

The primary goal of this project was to increase schools' resources and staff skills in providing function-based behavior support to individual students with chronic problem behaviors. Over the course of a 3-year period, 10 school teams received training in and on-site consultation on functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and behavior support…

Unclear definitions and limited system-level assessment measures inhibit cultural responsiveness in children's mental health. This study explores an alternative method to conceptualize and assess cultural competence in four children's mental health systems of care communities from family and professional perspectives. Concept Mapping was used to…

The authors discuss the establishment of a program at a state university that prepared teachers of the visually impaired (TVI) and orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists using distance education and intensive, face-to-face instruction. The authors evaluated the self-assessed competencies of 8 participants who completed prescribed TVI and…

The Test of Essential Learning and Literacy Skills (TELLS) has been administered to all Pennsylvania students in grades 3, 5, and 8 since 1985. An analysis of results from the 1,505 public elementary schools that served both third and fifth graders between 1986 and 1990 show that in 150 of these schools more than 50 percent of the students scored…

When the state legislators of Illinois mandated a full-scale statewide assessment program in reading/language arts, the Illinois Association of Teachers of English (IATE) made its stand clear: that tests for Illinois students must be created, designed, and executed by Illinois English/language arts educators, and that a writing sample was an…

This paper examines the major influences of state minimum standards of pupil proficiency in reading, writing, and mathematics; state curriculum guides; basic skills testing; and a state-funded compensatory/remedial program on public schools in Louisiana since 1980. The state testing program is described in some detail. Its influence in the home is…

Developed as part of the Arkansas Minimum Performance Testing Program (MPT), these item specifications relate to the third grade reading minimum performance test. There is one item specification for each instructional objective included in the MPT. Item specifications are intended to provide an overview of the general content and format of test…

Principals and teachers involved in implementing benchmark testing in a large, urban, midwestern school district progressed from lower to higher stages of concern during the 4 years of a longitudinal study. A random sample of the teachers and all the principals in the district's 49 elementary, 9 junior high, and 10 high schools completed the…

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…

In 1987, a study was conducted to evaluate the ability of several variables to predict student performance on Florida's minimum competency test for rising juniors, the College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST). The variables included grades received in required courses; semesters elapsed prior to taking required courses after entering college;…

Teacher certification issues are considered from the perspective of blacks in the profession. It is argued that teacher certification tests mandated by states threaten to reduce significantly the number of new minority teachers and seriously harm the historically black institutions of higher education that train teachers. The development of…