School health teams commonly address the needs of students with asthma, which requires specific knowledge and skills. To develop a skilled school health team, a competency-based framework for managing asthma in schools was developed. A modified Delphi with 31 panelists was completed. Consensus (=80% agreement) was reached for all 148 items…

This document is the first of a two-part series designed to help teachers, schools, and districts to implement standards-based instruction. Part 1, The Foundation for Improvement, explains why standards-based instruction improves teaching and learning. Part 2, First Steps to a Standards-Based Classroom, describes how to adapt the curriculum to…

Mastery learning can combine the strengths of direct instruction with the strengths of discovery learning. This paper describes how mastery learning is being used in Missouri schools to enhance the quality of instruction in science at all grade levels. In addition, the dramatic results in student science achievement that have occurred within the…

Resulting from a project involving district, state, and federal educational agencies, the papers in this, the first of two volumes, are intended to provide information from research and practice that can help school districts in their efforts to make decisions about goals and methods of basic skills instruction. The topics of the papers in the…

The purpose of the project described in this paper was to develop, publish, and disseminate a model set of oral communication competencies for West Virginia students in kindergarten through grade 12. The first section of the paper discusses the purpose of the project, which was prompted by the growth of the competency movement, and provides some…

The Texas Assessment of Basic Skills (TABS) is described. Specifications are listed for TABS objectives in mathematics reading, and writing for grades 3, 5 and exit level (grades 6-12). It is intended that sections of the publication will be distributed to curriculum planners and appropriate teachers to assist in their determination of whether…

Presents and analyzes the first year's results of a longitudinal study designed to measure teachers' and principals' stages of concern regarding implementation of a potentially controversial innovation--benchmark testing. Results indicate that the responding 241 teachers and 52 principals were positively disposed and interested in making the…

The Minimum Requirement Program (MRP) was introduced in Israel in the 1960s but was discontinued. The Parenthesis Program, a 1962 revision of the original program, restricted objectives in the syllabus which were deemed too difficult. Achievement gaps between population subgroups existed in the 1980s when a new MRP was developed. (GDC)

Text from a speech delivered by the past president of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development declares that a liberating education offers students abundant knowledge, that content by itself does not liberate individuals, and that individuals employ knowledge in their own liberation. (MLF)

In relating foundation program objectives established by the Department of Education to classroom instruction, this paper identifies performance expectations for 21 subjects in grades 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12. These grades were chosen because they represent critical points in major stages of human development. The performance expectations are clustered…

The role of music education in the curriculum and the specific skills that should be developed by students at particular grade levels, as articulated by the state of Arizona, are described. It is stated that a comprehensive music program should afford students experiences in: performing/reading, creating/writing, listening/describing, and values.…

The Arizona Social Studies Framework formulates goals for student competency in four broad categories: knowledge and cultural understanding; understanding of democratic principles; individual and group participation in social political affairs; and fundamental skill attainment for effective citizenship. Under each social studies goal are listed…

If competence is the outcome of a set of carefully designed behavioral objectives, then the form, generality, and focus of these objectives must be impeccable. Eight guidelines that eliminate the weaknesses in existing competency statements are presented. (CMJ)

Some of the major concerns regarding competency-based education (CBE) and ways of dealing with them are discussed. CBE is viewed as an opportunity for educators to work for real improvement in the teaching and learning process. (MP)

Discussion of the standards issue in gifted education stresses the value of program models characterized by academic freedom and development of creative expression and urges that lists of standards and high-stakes testing do not replace a rich curriculum. (Contains references.) (DB)