Seventeen thousand Marylanders affirmed the importance of specific citizenship competencies as graduation requirements. This was the finding when the Maryland State Department of Education surveyed citizens to answer the question of what competencies should be taught in the public schools. The citizenship competencies were approved as graduation…

A project to identify competencies needed by students entering college was undertaken jointly by the New Mexico Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education. The first step was to review statewide data on enrollment in developmental/remedial college courses of graduates from New Mexico's public secondary schools. After a…

This document is the second edition of a guide that is part of a series of performance-based teacher education (PBTE) modules and is intended to help those serving as resource persons in vocational teacher education programs designed around the modules and those serving in that capacity where the modules are used for competency-based staff…

Relevant policy issues for early childhood special education (ECSE) programs to consider in the areas of exit decision making and follow-up procedures are identified in this report. These issues were generated through extensive naturalistic case studies of four ECSE programs located in urban, suburban, and rural communities and were selected to…

Academic testing observed in a year-long study of kindergarten classes in 15 districts was primarily concerned with whether children were succeeding with the content of a basal reader readiness workbook that essentially dealt with phonics. Such success was viewed as a prerequisite for the first preprimer in the basal series, the use of which…

Aspects of proposed higher education reforms that involve assessment of students learning are clarified by the president of the Educational Testing Service. Governors and state legislators are advised not to adopt state minimum competency standards for higher education. It is claimed that the responsibility for setting instructional standards and…

An integrative approach to departmental design proposed for the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of the District of Columbia is described. The proposed curriculum classification framework for faculty assignment consists of three matrices: social behavior and humanities courses, technical courses, and philosophical courses. For the…

Most language and international studies high schools (LISHS) are established as public magnet schools and stress voluntary enrollment. Generally, the academic curriculum emphasizes foreign languages, social sciences, and communications for participation in an international environment. Students are expected to graduate with functional competence…

Three broad areas of recommendations in the teacher education reform agenda are addressed in this paper. These areas are preparation and continuing education of teachers, the conditions of teaching in the schools, and the requirements of teacher certification and licensure. The reform recommendations are aimed at: (1) the professional status of…

Designed for instructors at Beaufort Technical College (BTC) in South Carolina, this handbook provides a brief guide to competency-based education (CBE) and to the available resources at the college for assistance. Section 1 offers introductory comments on the concept of quality control and the five basic components of educational quality control.…

This review of demographic data and the educational literature on collee enrollment trends describes several population trends and assesses their anticipated effect on community college enrollments in Massachusetts. In section I, the argument is presented that the two-year colleges face a potentially unprecedented enrollment decline which,…

This paper considers three areas related to the testing of minimum knowledge and skills: public policy, the nature of higher-order thinking and selected aspects of educational measurement. The discussion of public policy issues centers around an apparent dichotomy of egalitarianism and elitism in public education, schooling and the public economy,…

The Learning Assessment Retention Consortium of the California Community Colleges distributed two questionnaires to all 108 California community colleges to determine practices related to academic standards and matriculation. Study findings, based on responses from 68 colleges to the academic standards survey and 70 colleges to the matriculation…

The Virginia Standards of Learning Program establishes a framework for instruction in the public schools and includes objectives that will help students acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes believed necessary for further education and employment. The Standards of Learning (SOL) Objectives for Library/Information Use are the result of a…

The value of statistical research depends on valid comparisons which can usefully influence educational policy. Educational research needs to extend the measures of learning (such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress) through nationally-calibrated absolute measures and through computer-assisted and adaptive testing. Direct sampling…