Many states have mandated two possibly far-reaching legislative reforms within secondary vocational education: minimum competency requirements and increased course requirements for graduation. Most legislated educational reforms include only selected aspects of competency-based systems, primarily the specification of and testing for minimum competencies in reading and mathematics. The minimum competency movement often becomes a testing movement because testing is the most immediate way for legislators to satisfy the public. A particular danger in testing is that its advocates may have two different understandings of its purpose--accountability versus effectiveness. Because more state tests focus on basic language and computational skills, they may affect instruction by narrowing the curriculum. The increase in required courses may deny students a vocational track because they have fewer electives. School personnel may not be given sufficient time to develop plans to substitute vocational courses for academic requirements. Both reforms involve the issue of what constitutes a proper education for today's technological society. Within business and industry, two apparently contradictory factions have emerged. One group emphasizes vocational education, career education, and basic skills; the other emphasizes a strengthened liberal arts curriculum. Both advocate, ultimately, specialized knowledge as well as employability skills. (YLB)