For a competency-based system of teacher certification to be feasible and fair, a valid and reliable set of measurement procedures must exist. There are four questions which must be answered before competency-based teacher certification can be validly implemented. The first question is, Should teacher or pupil behavior be used as evidence of teacher competence? Teacher behavior rather than pupil behavior is a more appropriate basis on which to judge teacher competence. The second question is, On what basis should specific behavioral indicators of competence be selected for observation? It is intellectually unjustifiable at this time to establish a particular set of behavior indicators of teacher competence as certification criteria. Question 3 is, Under what conditions should teacher behavior be observed in order to assess competence? Teacher behavior must be assessed in several contexts and over time if the assessments are to be generalizable. The final question asks, what kinds of measures of teacher behavior should be used to assess competence? Observation systems need to be identified and developed which are characterized by strong reliability and validity and by enough scope to reflect the range and complexity of teacher-student interaction. The movement in the direction of competency-based teacher certification should proceed only to the extent that our knowledge and technology will adequately support it. (RC)
