Outcome-based education is rooted in earlier ideas, such as Tyler's objectives, Spady's outcomes, Glaser's criterion-referenced measurement, Bloom's mastery learning, 1970s accountability concerns, and the 1960s competency-based education movement. Minnesota's experience suggests various practical implementation challenges concerned with…

A research-derived integrated system of curriculum development and instructional delivery called NEBEAT (Needs Based Education and Training) is described in relation to more traditional-behaviorally-based systems models. Four major components of curriculum design are examined as features which differentiate NEBEAT from its antecedents. (Author/MBR)

Describes Florida's Approach to Competency-Based Individualized Teaching (FACIT), which is a learning system designed to provide vocational educators with the knowledge and the skills to implement and manage an individualized, competency-based instructional delivery system. (SK)

In developing criterion-referenced reading tests, staff in a Skokie (Illinois) school district answered parents' concerns about accountability, participated in a valuable inservice learning experience, and achieved coordination between elementary and junior high programs. (Author/WD)

Changes in Scotland's curriculum have led to changes in student testing. A system of grade-related criteria has been developed--descriptions of expected performance in key aspects of a subject at different grade levels. (GDC)

The comprehensive restructuring of courses and assessment policy in Karingal High School, Frankston, Victoria is reviewed. The report details the problem, the new structure, implementation, retakes, personal decisions, and the advantages and disadvantages of the system. (MP)

An urban school district affected by testing in the effective schools context is described in order to provide examples of the effects of testing on teaching and the curriculum. The report describes the method of operationalizing the effective schools research using test information. An important catalyst to improving the instructional program was…

To develop a plan for competency based industrial arts curriculum in Virginia, three objectives were set: (1) to survey competency based curriculum developments in other states and prepare a catalog format; (2) to plan and coordinate a competency based curriculum planning conference; and (3) to specify procedures for completing catalogs for…

Designed to help school administrators and board members promote instructional excellence, this publication reports survey results involving over 35 school districts in Northern California, Utah, and Nevada engaged in instructional improvement efforts. Specifically, the report describes alternative strategies used to organize and manage three…

Based on the need to develop an outline of the procedures and methods used in vocational education in Florida, which would then form the basis for communication, discussion, and development of a multi-State consortium for the production of performance objectives and criterion measures for occupational education, this report, one of five under a…

Explains the criterion-referenced assessments in an educational context that aim to give information about valued educational outcomes. Traces the ways criterion referencing has been applied in the course of its 30 year history. Discusses a framework for the analysis of criterion-referenced approaches and applies the framework to the National…

A city-wide elementary school reading program that emphasizes mastery learning and continuous progress in Chicago, Continuous Progress--Mastery Learning, is blamed for the declining reading test scores of high school students there. The program's origins and evolution are described along with a new program, Chicago Mastery Learning Reading, which…

An Instructional Support System for Occupational Education (ISSOE) was designed to support and facilitate instruction by systematizing those functions essential to occupational programs--reporting, monitoring, and evaluating. ISSOE operates on several levels simultaneously: individual student achievement can be reported, class progress can be…

Discusses the current status, significance, and future of credentialing in the field of environmental health. Also discusses four phases of a Bureau of Health Professions (BHP) Credentialing Program and BHP-funded projects related to their development and implementation. Phases include role delineation, resources development, examination…

This paper details the development of the high school general mathematics examination and reading comprehension tests for grades one through eight for the curriculum referenced testing program in Charleston County School District, South Carolina. While the basic developmental approach was similar, problems encountered in developing the two types…