Competency-based testing and credentialing (CBTC) initiatives aim to address inequity in adult education by fundamentally changing how states use GED®, HiSET®, and TASC™ test scores to award and withhold high school equivalency credentials. However, CBTC is inconsistent with how developers intend states to use those scores. Accordingly, it falls…

Increasingly frequent journalistic accounts report that schools are responding to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) by engaging in what has come to be known as "educational triage." Although these accounts rely almost entirely on anecdotal evidence, the prospect is of real concern. The NCLB accountability system divides schools into those in…

Reviews state requirements for minimum competency testing and discusses past and potential future challenges to such testing. Offers possible solutions. (MD)

Prescriptive instruction should be developed for all students, ensuring that each will have the opportunity to achieve to the maximum of his or her ability. (Author/MLF)

Instructional validity indicates that a district is testing what is taught. Minimum standards of fairness in pursuing educational equity are proposed. The standards include efforts to remediate students who fail competency tests, use instructional validity studies; present an adequate opportunity to learn, make an appropriate use of results, and…

The author outlines current federal interest in the competency testing movement, explaining the federal role as supportive, with no plans for a national test, but with concern for equal educational opportunity. Federal activities are described, including the new NIE Office of Testing, Assessment, and Evaluation. (SJL)

Examines mathematics courses offered during the 1980s' educational reform in response to increased course requirements and competency testing. Schools increased numbers of courses, but they were primarily low level. Reforms rarely affected middle- and upper-level achievers but significantly affected at-risk students. Increased testing requirements…

A series of six fact sheets giving basic information on specific subjects of interest to those working with handicapped and gifted children. The fact sheets, developed by the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) Clearinghouse on Handicapped and Gifted Children during fiscal year 1978, are designed in a question/answer format and have…

The Florida Court decision reaffirms a state's right to impose a diploma sanction when competency tests are valid. Testing specialists now have a precedent for demonstrating curricular and instructional validity. Competency testing programs are a useful method for implementing instructional improvements. (DWH)

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…

There is both less and more to mastery learning (ML) than meets the eye. Less because mastery learning is not based on a model of school learning, and more because it is the most optimistic statement we have about the power of education. The notions of setting achievement standards and letting time for completion vary, of using criterion…

A positive effect of the competency testing movement is that it will reveal the nation's greatest educational failure--understanding minority achievement and developing successful instructional delivery systems for minority youth. Collaborative leadership from teachers, professional educators, and the public must challenge the development of new…

The attorney for the plaintiffs in Debra P. v. Turlington discusses the harmful effects and the arbitrary and unfair nature of minimum competency testing. (Author/WD)

School psychologists can play a central role in ensuring that handicapped students are treated fairly in minimum competency testing (MCT). Advocacy concerns include protection in the evaluation process as well as access to graduation and/or a high school diploma. In addition to these rights guaranteed by P.L. 94-142 (the Education for All…

Florida mandated high school competency tests in 1978. Evidence presented in the court case of Debra P. versus Turlington indicated students learn what they are taught. Low failure districts reported more concentration on basic skills. The issue of educational equity versus educational excellence has not been more resolved. (DWH)