Authentic performance assessments--when used simultaneously with matching curricular practices--are a promising development for practitioners and students alike. A major benefit for practitioners appears to be the opportunity to redefine the curriculum and guide instruction. Benefits for students include the opportunity to engage in authentic work…

Documenting the processes and procedures, this report reviews phases of development, testing, and revision of 100 modules in a set of performance-based teacher education (PBTE) curricular materials. The first of two chapters discusses the need to develop a professional development program for vocational education teachers. A two-phase process is…

Four articles on higher education curriculum are presented. In "The Articulate Curriculum" an approach to curriculum description is presented that is designed to have minimal ambiguity concerning the intention, content, and processes of the curriculum and that will lead to questioning several discrete factors in the curriculum planning…

The following major activities are discussed to guide educators through the complexities of curriculum organization. The first, defining outcomes, includes: (1) exit outcomes that express broad educational goals; (2) unit objectives; and (3) lesson objectives. The second major activity, developing learning units, includes: (1) opening lessons; (2)…

This report, from the Faculty Association of Community and Technical Colleges (FACTC) in Washington, focuses on various distance learning courses offered by the state's two-year colleges. The report contains 16 articles from faculty members and students, including: (1) "The Emperor's New Tutor: A Confession" (Sydney Wallace Stegall); (2)…

This document consists of 11 issues of the newsletter, "Community Update," published between April 1994 and March 1995. The newsletter provides information to help schools and communities reach the National Education Goals. Each issue contains announcements of monthly satellite town meetings; developments and issues relating to the Goals…

The booklet presents goals and activities to help practitioners of nonformal education design workshops for developing nations. Major objectives are to help nonformal educational practitioners become more sensitive to the needs of learners and to develop techniques for dealing cooperatively with people in other cultures. The document is presented…

Continuous progress education (CP) provides for the individualization of all significant aspects of learning, including materials, content, objectives, methods, pacing, and student-teacher relationships. It is based on the proposition that no general prescriptions are equally appropriate for all students. A brief description of Hood River Valley…

This guide, which is intended for educators interested in implementing preschool programs in developing nations, aims to sustain the working hypothesis that preschool education can be organized entirely around the themes of health and nutrition. Part 1 presents an approach to program development and discusses characteristics and use of the guide.…

This issue of the Courier contains articles loosely connected to each other by the underlying theme of developing people's capacity to improve the quality of their lives. The following articles are included: "Development of Human Resources--A Basic Needs Approach," by Mohiuddin Ahmad; "Rural Poverty," by the United Nations Food…

Designed as a forum for views on issues concerning the humanities in two-year colleges, this journal begins with "A Call for Common Learning," in which Ernest Boyer discusses the goals of education and outlines six themes which students should study to understand themselves, their society, and the world in which they live. Responding to…

Changes within Offices of Research in Medical Education are reported, based on surveys conducted in 1979 and 1983. Thirty-nine of 53 offices responded. Most were state-supported institutions: 32 were U.S. medical schools, and 7 were Canadian schools. Office directors provided information on goals, organizational relationships, funding, effort…

Technology and structural change in education are inextricably linked. That is, schools generally need to change the way they do things to take full advantage of technology, and the use of technology tends to change what happens in schools. This report examines recent theory and practice of schools and school districts planning for educational…

When discussing what schools should teach, questions of both content and process must be addressed. Although many observers believe that a fixed content should be learned, it is impossible to separate content and process. In the process of education, experiences build on each other. This fact should cause educators to question the continuities…

Goals and rationales for designating arts education as fundamental to the educational process are presented. The document is organized into three sections. The first two sections examine goals for schooling in the United States (as analyzed by Goodlad and others) and existing rationales advanced on behalf of the centrality of the arts to…