Describes a competency-based, modular laboratory course emphasizing the synthesis and characterization of polymers and directed toward senior undergraduate and/or first-year graduate students in science and engineering. One module, free-radical polymerization kinetics by dilatometry, is included as a sample. (CS)

Describes a competency based business mathematics course offered at Spokane Falls Community College (Washington) in which students, through the use of calculators, master mathematical concepts without having to mentally add columns of figures or perform complex arithmetic problems on paper. Examines both the mathematical and 10-key skills…

Competency-based education programs could raise three kinds of legal issues: claims under the due process clause, claims of discrimination under the equal protection clause, and claims of negligence. (Author/JM)

Describes a college level library science course designed to train school library media specialists in developing competencies in curriculum design, both as innovators and as professional teaching colleagues with classroom teachers. (LLS)

Competency-based materials can help in mainstreaming disadvantaged students, who especially need encouragement and motivation. The author gives illustrations of several different ways of using such materials with disadvantaged students in distributive education. (MF)

A study investigated the effectiveness of two competency-based in-service workshops for home economics teachers in Maryland. Teachers who participated in the workshops spent more time individualizing instruction and were perceived by their students as being more concerned for them as individuals. (JH)

The Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum at the University of Utah provides an integrated program of courses, clerkships and clinical research. Competencies and terminal behavioral objectives are defined and student progress is evaluated through the use of behaviorally-anchored rating scales. A sample rating scale is appended. (JMD)

This article provides background on several types of nontraditional higher education programs, particularly the external degree programs. The program effectiveness and related costs strategy developed by Empire State College and adapted to several other institutions are reviewed. (JMF)

The field-based program of Nova University is described in terms of the nature of the clients and the institution's relationship to the broad system of higher education. Structural factors that contribute to the program's effectiveness are outlined along with problems affecting the future of such programs. (JMF)

An overview and critique, with special reference to independent schools, of the minimum competency testing movement as a solution to the political and educational furor over declining student achievement. (SJL)

An essay review of Volume VI of the Youth in Transition series. (MLF)

Shows how the proposed model (an individualized competency based learning system) can be used effectively to produce a course in accounting principles which adapts to different entering competencies and to different rates and styles of learning. (TA)

This article analyzes the elective system and counseling and career planning models in an historical context as related to admissions and job placement. A return to a restricted curriculum employing competency-based instruction as one method of organizing a career counseling model will allow the student to achieve career objectives. (Author)

Describes the procedures used to evaluate the effectiveness of the teacher education curriculum, Physics for Elementary Teachers, including the measurement of students' understanding of physics, understanding of science, and attitudes toward science. (MLH)