Graduation competency test results of 27 Spanish-speaking high school students in grades 10-12 indicate that overall oral English proficiency is moderately to strongly correlated with test passage in all three areas tested: mathematics, reading, and writing. These results agree with previous research. However, despite the intuitive appeal of competency testing, its rationale must be carefully evaluated to determine the importance of the test results. Passage of competency tests is intended to demonstrate that students possess skills needed in later life, but prediction of the skills needed in life is problematic. Other conceptual and technical questions about competency testing arise from the definition of test content and method. While it is unrealistic to expect to find a perfect fit between school language demands and those found in an adult role, instruction in English as a second language (ESL) could profit from materials drawn from other curriculum areas to help students develop skills tested by competency tests, thus improving articulation between second language instruction and other school subjects in the process of preparing ESL students for the tests. (Author/MSE)