The Houston Plan for Excellence in Education aims to achieve quality in staffing and in education by recruiting and rewarding excellent staff, initiating a competency-based selection process for all school personnel, and providing renewal and professional growth opportunities. (SK)

Investigated compensatory education teachers' opinions/attitudes toward the Florida minimum competency program. Compensatory education, math, and English teachers from semi-rural (N=67) and urban (N=200) areas were surveyed by questionnaires mailed to their homes. Results focus on value of the approach, program implementation, and unanticipated…

Examines the problem that some high school graduates lack basic skills. Cites declining test scores, facts about illiterate graduates, and causes of public nonconfidence in education. Explores the conversion of minimum competency theory into functional programs, citing considerations related to minority students, test results, record keeping,…

In setting performance standards for schoolchildren, the school system not only announces what students must know; it specifies what it presumes it can teach. Tests of competency should be merely a monitoring device to indicate whether the system is meeting its obligation to students. (Author)

Examines the reasons behind and the effects of standardized and minimum competency tests. The authors conclude that the tests lead towards lower performance expectations for disadvantaged students, and increasingly rigid tracking along class, cultural, and racial lines. (AM)

This study investigated the relationship between the achievement of tenth graders on the Hawaii State Test of Essential Competencies (HSTEC) and such variables as student socioeconomic status, family structure, ethnicity, previous educational experiences, types of schools attended, elementary grades, achievement test scores, and rate of…

This article examines the program planning implications of specific advantages and disadvantages to competency testing which have been cited by lawyers and educators. Part of a theme issue on student assessment. (SJL)

Looks at four sources for measuring national student performance: (1) the National Assessment of Educational Progress study of basic skills; (2) competency testing in reading, writing, and arithmetic; (3) college entrance examination scores; and (4) rates of educational attainment by sex, race, ability level, and socioeconomic status. (SK)

One of the developers of Cabrillo Unified School District's Basic Proficiency Monitoring System outlines basic principles for designing and implementing such a system: believe in the process, concentrate on the fundamentals, keep it simple and inexpensive, and always follow up. (SJL)

The Italian educational system's experiences with national examinations might help United States educators understand the impact of state tests on students, schools, and education in general. (JT)

Describes a competency assessment system developed for use with preservice and inservice teachers and reports the reliability and validity of the instrument. Presents data from a tryout of the assessment system with a group of preservice science teachers. (CS)

Two years after the implementation of Florida's Educational Accountability Act, which mandates statewide competency testing in reading, writing, and arithmetic, the author cites the advantages of the program, refutes criticisms of it and reviews the challenge to it in Federal District court, the Debra P. V. Turlington case. (SJL)

McClung has written several articles on the legal aspects of minimal competency testing. In this article he states that Getz and Glass ("High School Journal," January, 1979) seriously distorted his earlier works. He attempts to set the facts straight regarding avoiding litigation by practicing preventive law. (KC)

This is a slightly abridged version of the report of the National Academy of Education panel, convened at the request of HEW Secretary Joseph Califano and Assistant Secretary for Education Mary F. Berry, to study recent declines in student achievement and methods of educational improvement. (SJL)

The authors critique legal arguments which have been used by attorneys, especially Merle S. McClung of the Center for Law and Education, in opposing minimum competency testing programs in the schools. The arguments mainly concern the 14th Amendment, racial discrimination, and the denial of due process. (SJL)