Abstract
The educational equity issues presented by the use of minimum competency tests (MCTs) to deny high school diplomas are addressed in Debra P. v. Turlington 1 a lawsuit addressing the state of Florida’s use of a functional literacy examination to determine the award of regular high school diplomas. The litigation provided the first judicial forum for addressing issues concerning the fairness of MCT programs used to make critical determinations about students. In addition, the court decisions entered in the case present new challenges to education and testing professionals concerned about the validity of criterion-reflected tests used to certify a student’s successful completion of a program of elementary and secondary education.
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Notes
F. Supp. 244 (M.D. Fla. 1979), ajfd, in part, revd, in part, 644 F.2d 397 (5th Cir. 1981), petition for rehg, and petition for rehg, en banc denied, 644 F.2d 397 (5th Cir. Sept. 4, 1981 ).
F. Supp. at 259.
Plaintiffs alleged that the failure to require the test for potential private high school graduates violated the constitutional guarantees in two ways. First, they charged that the exemption had the effect of sorting students on the basis of race because most of the private schools had all white or predominantly white enrollments. Plaintiffs asserted that these enrollments were the result of black students’ financial inability to attend private schools as well as the attempts of white parents to use private schools to shield their children from the desegregation of the public schools. The trial court found that the private school exemption was constitutional. The issue was not raised during the appeal of the case.
F. Supp. at 256.
F.2d at 408.
U.S. 483 (1954).
McNeal v. Tate, 508 F.2d 1017 (5th Cir. 1970 ).
F. Supp. at 252.
F. Supp. at 256–257.
U.S.C. §2000d.
U.S.C. §1703.
U.S.C. §2000e.
F. Supp. 926 (N.D. Cal. 1979 ).
Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. Civil Service Commission, Department of Labor, and Department of Justice), 33 Fed. Reg. 12,333 (1978) (formally codified at 29 C.F.R. pt. 1607 (1979)).
Presumably, the high failure rate on these items meant the material was not taught in school either — a unique problem of curricular match (or lack thereof) for black students taking the FLT.
F. Supp. at 261–262.
Madaus, G.F. and Pedulla, J.J. “An Examination of Item Bias in the Florida Functional Literacy Test’’ A paper prepared for the Center for Law and Education, Cambridge, Mass., June 1980. The work on the paper was supported by the Ford Foundation.
Testimony of Professor Robert Linn, National Institute of Education Issues Clarification Hearing on Minimum Competency Testing, Washington, D.C., July 9, 1981. The data are also available in unpublished form from Professor Linn at the University of Illinois, Champaign.
F.2d at 406.
Id. at 408.
For a discussion of the legal issues concerning MCT that provides more detail than space allows here, see McClung, Competency Testing Programs: Legal and Educational Issues, 47 Fordham L. Rev. 651,11979).
F. Supp. at 266, 644 F.2d at 404.
Id.
F. Supp. at 267.
F. Supp. at 266, 644 F.2d at 404.
F.2d at 405.
F. Supp. at 259.
Id.
Id. at 264.
F.Supp. at 264.
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Pullin, D. (1983). Debra P. v. Turlington. In: Madaus, G.F. (eds) The Courts, Validity, and Minimum Competency Testing. Evaluation in Education and Human Services. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-5364-7_1
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