Barbara Jordan served as the hearing officer for three-day adversary evaluation hearings about the pros and cons of minimum competency testing (MCT). This report is the complete transcript of the second day of proceedings. The pro team, lead by James Popham, began by presenting representatives of four states (Florida, California, Texas, and…

This digest is designed to provide information to Texas testing coordinators, other educators, and interested citizens about the development procedures and technical attributes of the state-mandated criterion-referenced assessment program. The chapters are: (1) "Background"; (2) "Test Development"; (3) "Test…

Summarizes the recent history of education reform and statewide testing in Texas. Suggest that analyses comparing Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) reading, writing, and mathematics scores with one another and relevant high school grades raise doubts about the reliability and validity of TAAS scores. Discusses these problems. (SLD)

The development, school district implementation, and initial validation of the Wicat Skills Assessment Test--a computerized testing system for state assessment objectives--are described. Testing with 10,000 students in grades 3, 5, 7, and 9 began in Texas in 1986-87 and 1987-88. Results support the feasibility for districtwide computerized…

A project was undertaken to develop a catalog of professional and technical competencies needed by a teacher to teach all areas of industrial arts given in the Texas State Board of Education-approved revised curriculum as well as to define and recommend guidelines for implementation of competency testing for industrial arts. Following a research…