This paper presents the legal rationale for using the National Teacher's Examination (NTE) validation procedure, which was used in Arkansas to determine cut-off scores for teacher certification. A review is given of the decision, by the United States Supreme Court, upholding use of the NTE by South Carolina in that state's teacher certification system. The points are made that it was not the intent of the testing system to discriminate and that graduation from an approved teacher training program was not a viable alternative to the use of the NTE for certification purposes. A review is also presented of Educational Testing Service (ETS) validation procedures that determine the validity of test questions as they relate to job requirements rather than to the quality of a teacher training program. The point is made that Uniform Guidelines on Employment Selection Procedures require identification of competencies important to a successful performance in the job for which candidates are to be evaluated. Actual directions given to educational experts who served as judges for the Arkansas NTE study of area examinations are presented. Also included in this paper are descriptions of data analysis procedures used in the Arkansas study. (JD)