The development of curriculum and instructional materials for competency-based education (CBE) is a costly and complex process involving many critical tasks. Failure to carry out any of these tasks can jeopardize the entire instructional development effort. The importance of the process demands that appropriate and effective procedures be used so…

This report describes the uses of visual literacy programs in the schools and outlines four categories for incorporating training in visual thinking into school curriculums as part of the back to basics movement in education. The report recommends that curriculum writers include materials pertaining to: (1) reading visual language and…

Over the past decade, vocational and technical education teachers were encouraged to use commercially produced task lists to develop their curriculum materials. Unfortunately, however, many commercially developed task lists distributed by private companies, state departments of education, universities, and many other agencies may, to some extent,…

This paper contains a concise summary of the theory and practice of competency-based education, especially as it applies to adult education. The paper first defines competency-based education (CBE) and details the assumptions on which CBE is based. It then lists the critical components for effective CBE and cites the advantages of using a…

Because of lack of time and a dearth of specific programs, vocational education administrators have difficulty in acquiring additional education. Three major steps have been taken to remedy this situation: (1) research has been conducted to identify and verify the competencies important to vocational administrators; (2) competency-based modules…

This look at competency-based education (CBE) begins by defining competency-based training. The five essential elements are discussed--competencies, criterion-referenced evaluation, provision for individual development and evaluation, requirement of student performance, and student-paced instruction. Facilitating or supporting characteristics are…

Because of an expressed need for staff development for vocational education administrators, research was conducted to identify and verify the competencies needed by vocational administrators; competency-based modularized materials were developed to address those competencies; and a variety of competency-based training program strategies were…

The National Center for Research in Vocational Education's performance-based teacher education (PBTE) materials have been widely adopted and have had a marked impact on vocational instructor training and staff development. It has been found that the cooperative development procedures, extensive field testing, and the numerous institutional, state,…

The purposes, development, characteristics, target population needs, appropriate materials, and teacher qualifications of an Occupational English as a Second Language Program (OESL) are presented. OESL is a component of bilingual education that utilizes open entry and exit and a competency-based individualized instructional approach. (PMJ)

The theory of scientific management was established as a way to increase workers' productivity. The following are among the key principles underpinning scientific management: task simplification and division of labor boost productivity; management must control the planning of work down to its minutiae; and remuneration should be based on output.…

The Systematic Curriculum and Instructional Development (SCID) model provides a tested procedure for developing high-quality, low-cost competency-based education and tech prep curriculum and instructional materials. It consists of 5 phases--analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation--and 23 components. The analysis phase…

This document contains 10 papers about and from a national forum that was conducted by the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Australian Research Consortium (ALNARC) to gather various perspectives on the inclusion of literacy and numeracy standards in Australia's national training packages and to discuss research about the implementation of training…

The six state-based research centers of the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Australian Research Consortium (ALNARC) investigated the effects of inclusion of literacy and numeracy standards in Australia's national training packages and the standards' impact on the quality of learning and work outcomes. The six ALNARC projects, which used a case study…