ABSTRACT
Minimum competency tests have to be absolutely fair. Otherwise even the staunchest advocate must have second thoughts; no one can endorse a test that fails students who have the skills to pass. Whatever else it may be, the American student body is unequal. Its diversity is staggering, among both the students and the expectations that society has for them. More important is whether handicapped students' education prior to the test can be properly equated to that of their classmates and fairly tested to the same standards. Consider a student who is blind, or deaf, or dyslexic. The minimum competency states must take responsibility for handicapped students in one way or another. Their worst option is to treat handicapped students the same as everyone else: to give them the same test and hold them to the same standards.
