This overview of the problem of linking testing and instruction describes two general policy areas which have focused attention on these links: studies of school effectiveness and minimum competency testing. Techniques used to investigate links between tests and instruction and policy issues that must be addressed are also discussed. (Author/CM)

Argues for the value of high-quality minimum competency testing (MCT) programs in efforts to restore honesty to public school promotion practices. Lists the seven characteristics of a good program and discusses the effects of MCT on students, on curriculum and teaching, and on public perceptions of schooling. (Author/WD)

Suggests that behavioral objectives and minimum competency testing can be effective for monitoring elementary students' mastery of basic skills, but to carry this system into the upper grades and other subject areas risks stultifying learning and inhibiting the free atmosphere that complex thinking and social education require. (SJL)

Minimum competency testing seems here to stay. The challenge to teachers is to promote public realization that test performance cannot completely measure complex skills; that mandated basic skills instruction may be an oversimplification of the teaching/learning process; and that definitions of minimum competence constantly change. (SJL)

One problem raised by minimum competency testing is the search for effective means of remediating the learning problems of students failing the competency exams. Local school districts must rely on currently existing programs, particularly ESEA Title I programs, which have been shown to have had a limited impact on student progress in the past.…

Reviewing the current justifications for minimum competency testing (MCT) programs, the author finds them inadequate. He asks whether reading, writing, and computation skills can be proven necessary for a successful life and whether MCT programs can be demonstrated to be the best means of promoting students' living skills. (SJL)

An overview and critique, with special reference to independent schools, of the minimum competency testing movement as a solution to the political and educational furor over declining student achievement. (SJL)

Discussed are the procedures implemented in the Orleans Parish Schools in response to the Louisiana state-mandated promotional testing program (Act 750, 1979), and concerns regarding its value. Recent findings raise fundamental questions about whether an exclusively skills-focused curriculum in the early years provides the needed grounding in…

Papers by teacher education practitioners, on the topic of evaluation of teacher education programs, with responses by evaluation experts, are presented: (1) "Teacher Education's Evaluation of Graduates: Where Are We Going and How Do We Know When We Get There?" (J. T. Sandefur); (2) "Requirements of a Data Base for Effective Program Evaluation"…

In January 1986, the Virginia State Board for Community Colleges and the State Council of Higher Education undertook a joint study of postsecondary remedial education. The purposes of the study were to: (1) define the minimum levels of competence required of a student wishing to do college-level work for degree credit; (2) develop methods and…