House Bill 1706, passed by the Oklahoma state legislature in 1980, reflected a concern by the public for improved quality in teacher preparation, and mandated curriculum examinations in subject areas, higher admission requirements, and one year of apprentice teaching, among other significan features. Spurred by the passage of this bill and by interest in a competency based approach to teacher preparation, the Teacher Education Committee at Northwestern Oklahoma State University approved the development of a competency based teacher education program. A subcommittee identified and wrote professional education competencies which students should master prior to program completion. These recommended competencies were presented to the Committee with a recommendation that public school teachers and administrators be invited to participate in a needs assessment to establish competency priorities. A total of 391 educators from 63 schools returned usable responses to the survey. It was revealed that considerable differences exist in several areas between what public school educators and university staff (and accrediting bodies) believe concerning the relative importance of competency areas. It is believed that the use of a needs assessment approach involving both university staff and public school personnel responses is a sounder approach than the use of one group's opinions alone. It is also realized that no research evidence exists which shows that one group's opinions are more valid than those of the other. (MJB)