Competency based teacher education (CBTE) curricula are being considered or developed by at least half of the state education departments according to a survey by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (Andrews, 1972).1 Coupled with this is the development of an increasing number of competency based reading methods courses and curricula. Those working on the development of these programs, quickly become aware of the problems encountered when attempting to combine theory and practice. Solving problems of identifying competencies, timebased curricula, grading, faculty teaching load, etc., at times seems overwhelming. However, a single issue in CBTE involves each area mentioned above and is yet unique in itself. That is, How does one assess competence