Administrative and technical problems were encountered in carrying out a minimum competency program for high school students in the Austin (Texas) Independent School District. The history of required minimum competency testing was reviewed briefly, and the process of clarifying and operationalizing the requirements was described within the Austin system, decisions were made about which students were to be tested, when, where, and by whom. A consideration of test security problems led to the decision to form an item pool using Rasch procedures to scale and select items and to identify cutting scores. The question of possible test bias was resolved by accepting the Rasch model of test fairness. The problem of curricular validity was resolved by subjective review of test content by the district curriculum staff. A suggestion was made that a study should compare the operational definition of eight grade competency with the intended meaning as perceived by the board of trustees who formulated the policy. The number of students who passed the tests after several successive test administrations is indicated. Testing began at the end of the ninth grade, so that students needing remedial instruction could be identified while still in high school. (CTM)