Higher education has traditionally privileged language-based text as evidence of students' levels of critical thinking and literacy. Twenty-first century education at all levels however, has focused on multimodal literacies and how educators can engage students who are seeing the world through diverse representations and a myriad of forms. Many…

In the context of higher education, a competence may be understood as the combination of skills, knowledge, attitudes, values, and abilities that underpin effective and/or superior performance in a professional area. The aim of the work reported here was to design a set of procedures to assess a transferable competence, i.e., problem solving, that…

Fieldwork exists as a component of many library schools' curricula. Site supervisors, students, and the schools themselves all play a role. A final part of most fieldwork experiences involves the use of an evaluation form filled out by a site supervisor about the student. In this study, forty seven evaluation forms were collected and analyzed…

Purpose: The purpose of the research was to develop a competency-based performance appraisal resource for evaluating school nutrition (SN) managers and assistants/technicians. Methods: A two-phased process was used to develop the competency-based performance appraisal resource for SN managers and assistants/technicians. In Phase I, draft…

At a time when governments face the challenges of maintaining competitiveness in a global economy, it is necessary to have high-quality comparative information regarding the fundamental skills of the adult population. Such information can help governments to evaluate policies and design more effective interventions. This article describes a…

This booklet serves as an advisory reference to available software programs that address specific objectives for students in grades 1-8 in all three Basic Skills Assessment Program (BSAP) curriculum areas--language arts, mathematics, and science. A description of the basic skills objectives precede each curriculum section. Information provided for…

Lists 15 criteria for evaluating the procedures to be used in the assessment of student listening and speaking skills. Prefaces the list with statements concerning predictability and the relationships among the language arts. (RL)

Essential to the definition of an effective school is an operational definition of minimum academic mastery as the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and concepts that enable the student to be demonstrably successful in the next grade level in the same school or in any other school in the United States. An effective schools program, such as the one…

This paper specifies the assessment of those spelling skills that are needed for effective writing by students in grades one through six. An introductory section provides background materials, including explanations of how the skill specifications were selected and how they are presented in this report. In the sections that follow the…

To determine to what extent competencies to be measured by the Alabama High School Graduation Examination were being taught in the Alabama public schools, a survey was conducted of teachers of grades 7, 8, 9, and 10. Competencies that were not being taught are identified and possible explanations are outlined. (Author/EGS)

This booklet serves as an advisory reference to available software programs that address specific objectives for students in grades 1-8 in all three Basic Skills Assessment Program (BSAP) curriculum areas--language arts, mathematics, and science. A description of the basic skills objectives precedes each curriculum section. Information provided…

In the United Kingdom, a trend in professional education is toward a competence-based certification scheme to be used in tandem with academic qualifications. However, philosophical differences are found that, linked to structural issues, make this pairing problematic. An alternative approach that allows competencies to be recognized through the…

Although the topic of effective schools is a popular one among today's educators, researchers, and publishers, there still is no commonly agreed upon definition of an effective school. One definition given by Ronald Edmonds and Lawrence Lezotte is notably precise, measurable, attainable, and easy to determine. They defined an effective school as…

This paper specifies the assessment of those mechanics skills-handwriting, capitalization, punctuation, formats--that are needed for effective writing by students in grades one through six. An introductory section provides background materials, including explanations of how the skill specifications were selected and how they are presented in the…

Prior to the Virginian Standards of Learning Program most curriculum guidance was provided by the Board of Education through course requirement in-service sessions and through legislative action on mandated topics. The Standards of Learning Program gave Virginia teachers primary responsibility for establishing minimum competencies and assessment…