Competency based education (CBE) programs can increase pupil motivation, provide the opportunity to individualized instruction, and enable the school to communicate better to the pupil and the public what pupils are learning in school, according to the author. But he lists eight traps that lie hidden in the CBE movement, including further strengthening of state control at the expense of local control, trivializing of curriculum and confusing of minimum standards with maximums, failure to provide remedial instruction for students who fail all or parts of minimum competency tests, and permitting students to leave school early on the basis of test results. The author concludes by examining some issues raised by CBE, such as, To what extent do we want the schools to serve a screening role for society? (Author/DS)