Equality of educational opportunity within Minimum Competency Testing is analyzed in terms of the distribution of outcomes, availability of remediation, and effectiveness of remediation for Blacks and Whites. (Author)

Current minimum competency testing (MCT) practices noted in the literature through Fall, 1979 are reviewed, and guidance for establishing suitable programs for handicapped students is provided. The provisions of The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 and Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 are analyzed in terms…

Issues surrounding the statewide competency testing of at-risk students are discussed. Sanctions, such as negative evaluations of educational programs associated with such tests, used to fall most heavily on schools and staff, but tests are increasingly becoming prerequisites for promotion and graduation, with increasing impact on students.…

Based on telephone interviews with educational officials from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, an overview of the use and impact of standardized tests in the United States during the 1986-87 school year was developed. In addition to interviewing officials from all state departments of education, officials from 56 sample school districts…

About half the states in the U.S., either by legislative or administrative action, have moved toward the imposition of statewide performance standards in their elementary and secondary schools. Typically these standards pertain to the basic skills--reading, mathematical computation, and written and oral expression. Almost all of these programs…