When a variety of groups became concerned with a perceived deficiency in public education in the 1970's, critical attention was successively focused on student accountability, the school curriculum, and teachers. This digest briefly reports on teacher competency testing. The 1980 Gallup Poll showed that 85% of citizens polled said teachers should be required to pass a state examination in the subjects they teach. By the end of 1981, 18 states had planned or implemented some form of testing for teacher certification. The two major teacher organizations, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) have taken opposing sides on the issue, with the AFT firmly supporting fair and valid tests and the NEA opposed to the use of exit examinations. Most of the arguments involved in the debate surround the following issues: (1) use of standardized tests to measure teacher competency; (2) duplication of effort between teacher competency tests and test requirements of the diploma granting colleges; and (3) use of written examinations for licensure in other professions. Other issues in teacher competency testing include: (1) establishment of cutting scores, below which applicants would not be granted certification; (2) use of norm-referenced versus criterion-referenced tests; (3) use of locally validated standardized tests versus nationally normed tests; and (4) legal and policy issues. (LMO)