Asserts that school systems will have to convert from their traditional methods of organizing and operating if competencies beyond the basic skills are to be taught. (Author/IRT)

This conference paper examines issues regarding minimum competency testing, including: (1) the history and current status of minimum competency testing programs, in the U.S. and especially in the Midwest; (2) technical characteristics of minimum competency tests; (3) the relationship of minimum competency tests to the regular curriculum and…

Minimum competency testing programs present educational decision makers with a new opportunity to reconsider some fundamental issues in American public education. First, what is the goal of our elementary and secondary educational system? In particular, one must consider the role that minimum competency testing plays in the struggle for equality…

Developers of high stakes criterion-referenced tests are urged to formulate test tasks so that efficient instruction can promote student mastery of the domain. Time-on-task has been promoted by instructional psychologists as preferable to test teaching. (DWH)

Competency testing is only one component of competency-based education (CBE); the others are: educational objectives, instructional process, remedial instruction, and program evaluation/reconceptualization. To implement only competency testing may result in disillusionment with the entire concept of CBE, which seeks to improve programs, not fail…

While minimum competency testing may cause education to become less pluralistic, its effect will weigh most heavily upon those who fail to pass the tests. Because such testing does nothing to improve teaching or learning, one result will be to hold the student responsible for the educational system's failure. (Author/GC)

Evaluation of student minimal competency should be based partly on national concerns, partly on local concerns, and partly on the needs of the learner. Evaluation must be built into all levels. (JMF)

This sourcebook describes specific sources of potential utility to those responsible for designing, installing, and operating competency-based education (CBE) programs. Four major types of resources are described--available materials from which selections may be made; products that provide guidelines for selecting from available materials;…

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)

Classroom instruction is aligned with grade level basic objectives and a yearly survey of these skills. Methods and resources that elementary school principals and teachers can use to teach essential skills are being developed. (Author/MLF)

In this book comprised of six chapters, multiple aspects of competency based education (CBE) are discussed contextually by various authors in terms of the current educational climate wherein the primary emphasis is upon learning outcomes rather than the process of learning itself. To illuminate the notion of competence, Chapter 1 presents:…

Six goals are essential to basic skills mastery. Goal one is the identification of specific competencies and performance indicators which are necessary for students to master to become a coping adult. The appendix lists 17 competencies modeled after the Adult Performance Level Project (APL). Competencies are organized into five knowledge areas:…

This experimental curriculum bulletin, published by the Board of Education of the City of New York, contains lists of mathematics performance objectives necessary for pupil competency at each level (K-9). A short introduction explaining how the objectives should and should not be used, and a memorandum to community school board presidents,…

Minimal competency testing of students can be an effective tool for improving educational quality if applied appropriately with adequate safeguards. The failure of academic standards through grade inflation, a policy of social promotion rather than academic promotion, and weak curricula has reduced public confidence in education and encouraged…

Developed as part of the Minimum Performance Testing Program (MPT), these item specifications for sixth grade reading were designed to provide an overview of the general content and format of test items used to measure instructional objectives. Each item specification contains the following information: objective identification number; grade…