Proficiency, or competency, testing is a recent attempt to meet the public demand for accountability. But instead of placing the responsibility on the educational organization, competency testing appears to be a sophisticated approach to holding students and teachers accountable. Although some form of student assessment is needed, it is not yet certain that minimum competency testing is the answer. Educators must carefully scrutinize minimum competency testing programs if the inevitable legal challenges to this testing are to be withstood. Several types of court cases provide insight into legal problems created by proficiency testing. Plaintiffs contend that these tests discriminate against minorities, deny due process, and are culturally or linguistically biased. Educators and legislators must be willing to learn from these cases so that injuries to students can be minimized. (Author/JM)