All across the country—in local districts and on state levels, in meetings after school or in a workshop day—parents, administrators, and laymen are meeting together to identify and list basic skills in mathematics. The resulting record of basic skills then serves as a beacon to guide the development of a “test of minimal competency,” which is supposed to separate the wheat from the chaff and insure that all students master “the basic skills in mathematics that are necessary to survive in today's society.” The skills-assessment bandwagon is rolling—hop on quick!