The Connecticut Statewide Basic Skills Proficiency Test is required for all ninth-grade students in Connecticut public schools, vocational-technical schools, and endowed or incorporated high schools and academies. The examination covers basic reading, language arts and mathematics skills. Students who score below the level of expected performance…

The New York Regents Competency Testing Program has been designed to assure that all students develop adequate skills in reading comprehension, writing, and mathematics before graduation from high school. In this booklet, information is provided on two elements of the Regents Competency Testing Program: diploma standards and screening tests.…

The pilot Helping One Student to Succeed (HOSTS) project has been highly successful in terms of benefits to and attitude impact on students. The 1984-85 project was a continuation of the Retired Teacher Tutoring Project which began in the spring of 1983, combined with HOSTS tutoring methods and materials. Although tutoring by the retired teacher…

This list of minimal competencies for foreign language teachers is broken down into the following categories: (1) practical command of the foreign language, (2) language analysis, (3) culture, (4) teaching-learning process, and (5) professional. Each category has three parts: competence, indicator (a brief description of the activity or ability by…

Intended to help state level administrators plan for minimal competency testing programs, the guide discusses conceptual, legal, and budgeting considerations involved in competency programs for different handicapped populations. Problems and remedies are cited from a longitudinal study of the implementation of P.L. 94-142, the Education for All…

The purpose of this project was to conduct a complete survey of the various states to determine the existence and content of state mandates and competency statements as they relate to economic literacy. The data collection procedure involved surveying the 50 state departments of education to determine the existence of mandates and/or competency…

The Georgia Criterion Referenced Tests (GCRT), tests of basic skills, administered to Georgia students in grades four, eight, and ten measure competency in reading and mathematics. Results are reported for students in Atlanta and throughout the state. The reading and mathematics objectives were organized into skill areas. Atlanta students scored…

A study was conducted to determine who has the responsibility for teaching general occupational and consumer competencies--the home, the school, or the workplace. To answer this question, two national surveys on functional competencies in occupational adaptability and consumer economics were conducted. Competencies were first identified and then…

Commentary and advice in four legal areas are offered in this newsletter on educational law. First, the document outlines preventive legal review for public educators in four basic steps, including anticipation of legal challenges, evaluation of the challenges' legal merits, consideration of the policy issues raised by potential challenges, and…

Outlined and evaluated in this paper is the collaborative process used by Project 81 state educational agency (SEA), local educational agency (LEA) and support staff in planning and managing a survey to validate life-role competency statements at twelve pilot sites in Pennsylvania. The project is a Pennsylvania Department of Education…

The Massachusetts Policy on Basic Skills Improvement was formulated to help students master basic skills prior to high school graduation. The aim of this guide is to assist local districts in complying with the policy's requirements for the setting of minimal standards according to levels of achievement students are expected to reach on stated…

The minimum competency movement's rationale can be reduced to four problem-laden propositions: the state through its schools owes every child an education; a high school graduate should be at least minimally competent; schools should be held accountable for seeing to it that every child meets this standard; and to assure this, every child must be…

The speeches presented at the second national conference on testing deal with models for program evaluation, reporting of test results, minimum competency programs, and the role of state and federal government in educational testing. Various approaches to program evaluation, and its relationship to testing are described by Michael Scriven, Lee J.…

The minialist approach to social policy, especially concerning public education, has not worked because the assurance of minimal protection for the deprived also entails a rise in acceptable levels of attainment for those above the minimum, in order to preserve their competitive advantage. Also, particular minimums, such as universal elementary…

Guidelines for setting performance standards for minimum competency testing are suggested. Because qualitative judgments are involved, certain options should be considered, such as periodic reviews and necessary revisions of standards; use of experience-based rather than arbitrary standards; and thorough consideration of standards, even if the…