Educators were asked to read a description of a minimum proficiency test required for high school graduation and select a cutoff score for it. The 24 descriptions used were formed as all possible combinations of a test content, a level of student performance, a penalty for failing the test, and a community response to the test. Of the 223 educators responding, 35% selected the median cutoff score of 70%. Student performance and test content were ranked the most important considerations in selecting the passing score, followed by penalty for failure and, last, community response. Analysis of variance on the cutoff score of the fully-crossed four-factor design yielded a single significant effect; the student performance by community response interaction. Post hoc contrasts indicated that a lowering of the passing score for poor student performance in the presence of community opposition was the major contributor to the effect. (Author/GK)