Forest Grove High School (FGHS) is a suburban school in Oregon that implemented an extensive remediation program to increase the mathematics scores of its learners taking the state-mandated competency examination, the Oregon Statewide Assessment Test (OSAT). Learners who failed at least two of the mathematics sections of the 1998 OSAT, taken when…

Describes the development and testing of the North Carolina minimal competency testing program. (IRT)

This brief overview of minimum competency testing and disabled high school students discusses: the inclusion or exclusion of handicapped students in minimum competency testing programs; approaches to accommodating the individual needs of handicapped students; and legal issues. Surveys of states that have mandated minimum competency tests indicate…

This manual, accompanying the New York State Regents Examinations and Competency Tests, is intended for use by school administrators, guidance counselors, teachers, and proctors. Regents examinations measure the quality of instruction and learning that has taken place in high schools, and provide information for educational and vocational decision…

General guidelines for administering the Grade 12 Diploma Examinations for June 1987 in Alberta, Canada, include shipping dates of the tests, a schedule for returning examinations, securing test materials, and handling walk-in candidates. Additional information includes what to do about students who arrive late, violation of examination rules,…

This bulletin contains general guidelines on the Diploma Examinations Program required for all grade 12 students for the 1987-88 school year in Alberta, Canada. The grade 12 Diploma Examinations Program is an integral part of the high school diploma requirements and is intended to develop and maintain excellence in educational standards through…

During the spring of 1980, Texas tested all of its ninth graders for the first time as part of a legislatively-mandated competency program. This forced all Texas districts which already had established programs to decide whether to drop, modify, or retain them. The political, economic, and practical information which was important within the…

Guidelines are provided to assist New Jersey local school districts in improving and strengthening their graduation policies in accordance with the new law and regulations. Basic skills proficiency requirements have been enacted in Chapter 241, Laws of 1979. This law requires that students successfully pass tests in reading, writing and…

Lawrence Central High School (LHS) is a suburban school near Indianapolis, Indiana, that implemented in 1998-1999 an extensive remediation program to increase the passing rates of their students taking the state's mandated competency examination, the Indiana State Testing for Education Progress (ISTEP) examinations. The number of students in 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)…

These five papers describe the methods, results, and implications of a multimethod approach to the establishment of standards for the three subject areas of the Alabama High School Graduation Examination (AHSGE). James E. McLean introduces the problems and methods involved by identifying three general approaches to scoring procedures found in the…

The State of New Jersey has proposed moving its competency test of basic skills from the 9th to the 11th grade, in order to allow for more content learning, more maturity, and more test-taking skills on the part of students. Since vocational students are more likely than other students to score low on the basic skills competency test, having the…

The items of the Florida minimal competency test have never been validated as measures of "survival skills," and the pass/fail standards were set mindlessly and capriciously. (Author/IRT)

This guide is designed for educators involved in teaching, developing curriculum, or counseling students. It describes six new forms used to report the results of 10th-grade student performance on the Florida State Student Assessment Test, Parts I and II (SSAT-I and -II): (1) Parent Report, SSAT-I; (2) Student Report, SSAT-I; (3) Student Report,…

Most people seem to think the test will lead to improvement in education. Teachers, however, feel they are being made scapegoats and blacks feel that one crop of eleventh graders is being punished for not being able to make up in one year what they haven't learned in eleven. (Author/IRT)