Many classical pianists want to develop jazz piano skills because they have acquired: (1) an awareness of the importance of jazz as an art form; (2) an attraction to the sophistication and complexity of jazz music; (3) an interest in exploring contemporary music styles; and (4) a desire to become involved with a type of music which is viewed as…

In 1980-81 field tests were undertaken in North Carolina to develop a procedure for making writing competency a minimum requirement for graduation from high school. Measuring writing skills with adequate validity and reliability requires planning for data collection and varied scoring methods, personnel training, dissemination of assessment…

Many states have mandated two possibly far-reaching legislative reforms within secondary vocational education: minimum competency requirements and increased course requirements for graduation. Most legislated educational reforms include only selected aspects of competency-based systems, primarily the specification of and testing for minimum…

This supplement to the California Business Education Program Guide for Office and Distributive Occupations is designed to assist office education teachers of secondary, postsecondary, and adult students to update their business education curricula in light of new technology and increasing demand for skilled office workers. Focusing on the legal…

This paper describes the response of the Chicago school district to an Illinois State board of education directive that local school districts have an ongoing program of assessing student achievement and educational programs. The minimum competency testing program in place before the directive is discussed. The testing program and the nongraded…

This paper traces the evolution of the statutory reforms passed by the Illinois General Assembly to upgrade the quality of those entering the teaching force in Illinois. Part one briefly examines the national trends in testing for admission into teacher education programs prior to certification. Part two focuses on the Illinois movement to test…

Setting standards for the purpose of certification is frequently performed using judgmental techniques such as the Angoff method. This study was performed to identify types of items that judges find hard to rate accurately, that is, types of items on which examinees perform differently than predicted by the judges. Once identified these item types…

Literature on the background, causes, and current prevalence of competency based programs is synthesized in this report. According to one analysis of the actual and probable costs of minimum competency testing, estimated costs for test development, test administration, bureaucratic structures, and remedial programs for students who cannot pass the…

The study was designed to determine the variables which may be strong indicators of possible failure or difficulty on the minimum competency test (MCT) for 88 handicapped seniors (learning disabled, mildly retarded, and emotionally disturbed). Fifty-six Ss had not successfully passed the MCT prior to their senior year, while the comparison group…

Developed to improve the educational testing program and to reflect the content of the state curriculum for students in Texas, this paper lists words selected from all state-adopted basal reading series, plus several other appropriate sources, which may be included in test items on the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) tests.…

A discussion is presented of the component in the Educator Improvement Act (mandated by the state of South Carolina) which provides an evaluation procedure for prospective teachers beginning in the freshman year in college and ending during the first year of teaching. A description of the basic skills Educational Entrance Examination includes…

The New Mexico High School Proficiency Examination covers five general content areas: (1) Community Resources; (2) Occupational Knowledge; (3) Consumer Economics; (4) Mental and Physical Health; and (5) Government and Law. Skills measured by the test are: Identification of Facts and Terms; Reading; Writing; Computation and Problem Solving. These…

A number of important issues must be addressed during the process of graduation competency identification. Each school system must determine what it means by the term competency before identifying a set of graduation requirements. Graduation competencies may emphasize school subject skills, basic skills, or skills needed in everyday life. Life…

The National Institute of Education's (NIE) process of studying minimum competency testing (MCT) includes: (1) a clarification hearing to provide a public forum to discuss divergent views on salient issues related to MCT programs; (2) two investigative teams to explore the different perspectives on the issues, build comprehensive cases which…

This criticism of writing competency tests questions both the efficacy of a test developed by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the reliance of individual states on the products of private testmakers. The paper suggests that a hidden curriculum is being developed by independent and semi-independent organizations that…