The use of scuba diving as a recreational activity within traditional university instructional programs has been well established. Departments focusing on kinesiology, physical education, or exercise science have often provided scuba diving lessons as part of their activity-based course offerings. However, few departments have developed an…

In January 2007, the Oregon State Board of Education mandated a new Oregon diploma that strengthened high school graduation requirements with the aim of improving student readiness for college and career. Among the major changes was a requirement that students demonstrate proficiency in nine "essential skills" that included the…

North Queens Community High School serves approximately 200 students, 16-20 years old, as they strive to reach their personal and academic goals. All students at North Queens have previously been enrolled in high school elsewhere and are over-age and undercredited. Small class sizes, student-centered support, and an accelerated credit acquisition…

This practicum reports on the conceptualization, development, testing, and implementation of the guidelines, procedures, and a model for alternative programs for earning graduation credit. New requirements for graduation were adopted by the Maryland State Department of Education in November, 1974, but the development of specific policies and…

Maryland is the first state to require every student to perform service as a condition of receiving a high school diploma. In Baltimore, once electives became mandatory, a new coordinator for service learning was appointed, a service-learning program--the Baltimore Alliance for Student Service--was established, and a revised five-year…

This booklet is intended to aid local school districts in Oregon as they work to develop and improve their educational programs in keeping with the competency-based high school graduation requirements established by Oregon's revised minimum standards for public schools. The booklet consists of six chapters that focus in turn on state requirements…

This publication examines the competency-based education (CBE) movement in Oregon, which resulted in the adoption of new Minimum State Requirements for Graduation in 1972 and the subsequent adoption of competency-based Minimum Standards for Oregon Public Schools in 1974. It first discusses the general characteristics of CBE and then suggests some…

This publication focuses on California Assembly Bill 3408, legislation mandating secondary schools to develop performance standards and performance tests for students. The paper analyzes progress made in implementing the legislation in California and outlines some of the barriers to successful implementation. The author explains several testing…

Reviews the status of competency-based high school graduation requirements in Oregon, Minnesota, and Alaska; explores problems of testing certain competencies; and presents a directory of 10 competency-based programs. (AV)

Competency testing in New York State began in the nineteenth century, first with a local testing mandate and later with the "preliminary Regents examinations," which were administered at the end of the eighth grade. Optional competency tests were introduced in 1962, and in 1976 the Board of Regents mandated the passing of a series of…

Describes Project 81, an experimental program involving Pennsylvania school districts, colleges, citizens and community groups, and state department of education personnel in a joint effort to identify educational objectives, to translate those objectives into graduation requirements and appropriate educational programs, and to develop policies to…

Information regarding state minimum competency testing programs was requested from the 50 state departments of education in the United States in the spring of 1979. The following questions were asked: (1) Do you have a testing program? (2) If you do, what tests are being used? (3) Do you have a testing program in the planning stages? (4) Are there…

Based on a state board of education program to individualize graduation requirements, called the Program Completion Alternative, this guide discusses how and why New Jersey school districts ought to develop a variety of ways for students to meet state and local requirements; outlines the alternative education programs made possible by the new…