The STEP curriculum is a competency-based vocational education, evaluation and training program for special needs students with 27 components in 3 domains: survival skills and problem solving, career development and job seeking, and job keeping and work maturity. After implementation in South Dakota, 63 percent of completers were hired permanently…

Presents a three-step model for developing competency-based programs in accordance with the new Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act of 1990. Covers the identification of program competencies, course design, and the development of course descriptions and syllabi. Discusses documentation requirements. (DMM)

Describes the design and implementation of an assessment program for a college communication program that led to a new competency-based curriculum with expanded assessment procedures. (SR)

Reports results of random survey of German instructors on their attitudes toward teaching adjective endings in a proficiency-oriented climate. A majority consider teaching the adjective endings difficult as well as important, especially in four-year high school and two-year college programs. (LET)

Results of this study suggest that it is possible to establish specific proficiency-based goals for elementary Arabic using the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages proficiency orientation, to adapt structurally based materials to meet these specific learning goals, and to accomplish the targeted skill proficiency levels set for…

Reviews the debate over the compatibility of education for academic degrees the competency-based approach required by Britain's National Vocational Qualifications. Considers problems in the definition of competence and the methods of assessment. (SK)

California holds special-education students accountable for statewide assessments, district content and performance standards, and the general-education core curriculum. Key performance indicators provide concrete data to the state and help schools demonstrate whether all their students are achieving. The Centralia District's reading…

Four groups of mostly female students, differing in age, English proficiency, ethnicity, and social class, were surveyed in Australian competency-based technical and further education programs. They appreciated the practical focus and continuous assessment of competency-based training. However, some aspects of it made it unsuitable for certain…

Constructing standards for performance-based classrooms requires a more student-centered curriculum and a changing teacher role. This article presents a standards-based design strategy based on selecting a unit topic, choosing authentic culminating activities, choosing related curriculum goals, creating unit goals, developing unit assessments,…

Focus groups with 10 technical and further education teachers implementing a lab operations training package revealed concerns about time constraints and lack of understanding about training packages. Morale was affected by the perceived lack of consultation regarding structural changes to the Australian vocational education system. Their deepest…

A program to meet training needs of personnel providing supported employment services to people with developmental disabilities in all parts of Alaska is described. The competency-based training program uses an independent learning format and master trainers. Evaluation indicated that the materials, the study format, and the master trainer model…

This article describes a reading intervention for students with learning disabilities, the Systematic Teaching and Recording Tactic (S.T.A.R.T.), to be used in conjunction with curriculum-based measurement. Ongoing assessment, teaching to a criterion, re-reading, and reciprocal teaching are major components of the intervention. (Contains six…

The field of instructional design and technology (IDT) evolved during the 1990s to include theories and practices of performance improvement. Some authors have indicated that the goal of our field has shifted from facilitating learning to improving performance; and contemporary definitions of IDT incorporate human performance technology concepts…

Standards-based assessments were prescribed as the cure for the poor accountability of public schools. Billions of dollars have been spent on curricula, tests, and scoring rubrics so that federal and state agencies can rank schools in terms of student achievement. Over the past twenty years, standards-based education has become the defacto, only…

This paper explores the substance of competence-driven changes in teacher education curricula by testing the possibility of using a framework distinguishing between the German pedagogical culture of "Didaktik" and the Anglo-Saxon Curriculum culture to describe the substance of these changes. Data about the perceptions of…