A study was conducted to determine if significant attitudinal differences concerning evaluation by principals could be found between Mississippi's kindergarten teachers and other grade-level teachers immediately after administrators had evaluated teachers with the Mississippi Teacher Assessment Instruments (MTAI). Designed to assess minimum…

This paper evaluates relations among criterion-referenced test scores, subsequent predicted remediation need decisions, and actual performance without remediation on Georgia's state minimal competency test. Results from examining 1,310 students' scores indicated that many students would have been required to be remediated who subsequently passed…

This report on competency testing in vocational and technical education is a follow-up to previous reports published in 1988 and 1990. Section 1 summarizes the data. It describes competency testing in the 13 states that currently mandate competency testing and identifies the 11 states in which voluntary testing is occurring, the 9 states either…

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Task Force on Higher Education and the Schools calls for states "to consider the feasibility of developing a regional assessment of teacher selection techniques" (SREB, 1981). This recommendation reflects concerns about the need for: (1) more states to develop new teacher certification tests,…

This newsletter is part of an effort to improve mastery of the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS). Responses of teachers to a survey in the Spring of 1987 concerning their beliefs and facts about the TEAMS are reported, along with clarifying facts about this criterion referenced test. Teaching to the TEAMS is advisable because…

The Alabama High School Graduation Examination (AHSGE) was given to eleventh graders for the first time in October 1983. In April, 1983, an instructional validity survey was conducted concurrently with the piloting of the AHSGE to determine if seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth grade students were being taught the skills tested on the AHSGE.…

To portray the status of minimum competency testing programs nationwide; as of June 30, 1979, on-site visits were conducted with directors of all 31 state programs and 20 local district programs. Most programs were developed since 1976; 14 state and 13 local programs are fully implemented. The state board of education mandated 16 state programs;…

The Kansas Minimum Competency Tests (KMCT) were designed to provide information about student performance on selected minimum competencies in reading and mathematics. The KMCT were criterion referenced tests in which each item was keyed to a minimum competency objective; student performance was measured against a predetermined standard. The tests…

The public schools reform movement has led to a proliferation of minimum competency testing programs by states. At the 11th/12th grade level, the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS), mandated by Texas House Bill 72, is an exit exam, divided into two sections which measure minimum competencies in math and language skills.…

This report describes the status of competency testing in vocational and technical education in the United States in 1988-89. Data were derived from a mailed questionnaire sent to State Liaison Representatives of the National Network for Curriculum Coordination in Vocational-Technical Education. Of a total of 69 surveys, 39 responses were returned…

The impact of legislation in California establishing "Pass to Play" policies of minimum academic requirements for extracurricular and co-curricular activities in grades 7 through 12 was examined. District policies varied widely and most were more stringent than required by legislation. Overall, the legislation helped establish academics…

Discusses apparent contradicting conclusions of two studies on the impact of policies aimed at raising the achievement of at-risk students. One study analyzed the impact of state minimum competency testing; the other analyzed students' reactions to the threat of grade retention if certain levels on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills were not achieved.…

In the Louisiana Basic Skills Testing (BST) program, initiated in 1982, criterion-referenced tests of language arts and mathematics were administered to all second grade students. Longitudinal data over three years tracked four cohorts of students to address when retention appears to be most effective and whether a combination of repeated…

Minimum competency testing (MCT) programs for students are growing in popularity and being adopted by many states. In order to determine the extent of the MCT movement, researchers at North Carolina State University surveyed state departments of education in all 50 states. In updating these data for 1986-1987, it was found that 64 percent of the…

The 1986 scores from the Statewide Student Assessment Test-II, a minimum-competency test required for high school graduation in Florida, were placed on the scale of the 1984 scores from that test using five different equating procedures: (1) linear method; (2) Rasch model; (3) three-parameter item response theory (IRT)--concurrent method; (4)…