The purpose of this paper is to begin the process of bringing conceptual clarity and order to the discussion of competency based education. Toward this end, a number of steps have been taken: (1) the wide variety of educational practices that relate to the concept of competency based education, and the variety of programs that carry the label, have been reviewed and placed in historical perspective; (2) based on this review, a working definition for the concept has been proposed; (3) the implications of this definition for the organization and operation of the schools have been explored; and (4) alternative models of competency based educational programs have been developed to illustrate the variation that can exist in such programs and still be in keeping with the proposed definition. (Author/IRT)