Laboratory exercises have created benefits in student learning. Making laboratories open ended pushes students to have an independent perspective and to think harder. An open-ended experiment is where students are given the flexibility to develop their own experiments. Outcome-based education is an educational theory that bases each part of an…

Global competency-based modules are relatively new in higher education. As a way to measure global competency the USF Global Competency Test (GCT) modules objectively measure global competencies for individuals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the value of three global competency-based program modules and undergraduate student…

Since the 1980s, there has been a movement towards using a competency-based approach as a way to measure and evaluate the progress of students and trainees in professional psychology. A core competency that has been defined is individual and cultural diversity, which includes the areas of religious and spiritual diversity. Research has shown that…

In 1999, the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) began the Outcome Project which re-focused program accreditation decisions. Six competency areas detailed new standards, calling for programs to measure and provide evidence of learner's acquisition of the knowledge and skills for independent practice in a specific specialty.…

There has been increasing interest in assessing teachers' cross-curricular competencies as a result of reforms in teacher education in Switzerland. At Zurich University of Teacher Education, future students who do not have formal qualifications are required to pass several examinations and a test, which is known as an "assessment…

This article explores the interaction of formal and informal attributes of competence-based assessment. Specifically, it presents evidence from a small qualitative case study of summative assessment practices for competence-based qualifications within apprenticeships in the motor industry in England. The data are analysed through applying an…

The state of the art of student outcome measurement is in flux. (MM)

This study examined a model of assessment that could be applied nationally for Year Twelve Vocational Education and Training (VET) subjects and which could yield both a differentiating score and recognition of competence. More than fifty colleges across all states and territories of Australia field-tested the approach over one school year. Results…

Discusses successes and problems of the Adult Performance Level (APL) project funded by the U.S. Office of Education in 1971 to identify the skills necessary for an adult to function successfully in today's society. (TA)

A literature review examined how literacy programs can assess their effectiveness by looking at outcomes and using this information. Very few empirical studies showed the impacts of literacy programs or identified predictors of program success. One reason was the lack of common criteria for evaluating performance. One evaluation issue was whether…

A study was conducted to determine how the Career Preparation Assessment portfolio (CPA), tailored to be used in local school reform efforts, was implemented in 10 schools in 1998-99. The research was organized and reported using these four clusters of research questions: tailoring the CPA, implementation, student performance and assessment, and…

A study reported on progress in developing statewide norm-referenced evaluation scales for high and middle school students. Phase IV goals were to develop and try out a guidance curriculum results evaluation survey format for use by local school district personnel and to explore ways to analyze and use Missouri School Improvement data to…

Since 1975 the Contoocook Valley District, a small rural cooperative school district in southwestern New Hampshire, has developed a performance-based student competency program which has resulted in a dramatic increase in scores on the Stanford Achievement Test. The district is comprised of 9 towns, covers an area of almost 300 square miles, and…

Project SCANS (Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills) Integration is a 5-year initiative to explore how well all high school instructors would be able to integrate competency-based instruction in designated work-related competencies into their courses and rate students' mastery of the competencies. Three teachers from each of 14…

The Spanish Intensive Courses sequence at the University of South Carolina, first offered in fall 1982, has become well received and highly visible in the university. The sequence has grown to three courses in fall 1983, all exceeding minimum enrollment requirements despite selective admission criteria. The success of the sequence has inspired the…