A workshop attended by faculty members from three Florida junior colleges and one university was held in response to legislation requiring students to demonstrate minimum communications and computation skills before entering upper division programs. General conclusions reached during the workshop focused on the value of competency testing in creating a positive relation between the public and higher education; the possible negative effects of testing, such as the lowering of teacher expectations and of student aspirations; the advantages of criterion-referenced tests over norm-referenced tests; and the possibility that students may fail the competencies test after having passed beginning level communications and math courses. Communications skills that were emphasized included competencies in percentages, word problems, averages, interest, discounts, taxes, linear equations, graphs, integers, decimals, fractions, and equivalencies. Suggested communications skills included competencies in paragraph development, sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling. The workshop participants also recommended that: (1) upper-level competencies not exceed high school competencies, (2) basic skills competencies be common to all programs, (3) no distinction be made between entrance and exit competencies, (4) competencies be standardized throughout the state, (5) remediation be available, and (6) minimum competencies be a requirement for associate degrees. (JP)