Engineering curricula are increasingly focused on developing student competencies. Many new competencies needed by engineers today are professional skills (sometimes called the "soft skills"). Among the new competencies for engineering graduates is global competence, the ability to work knowledgeably and live comfortably in a…

This publication is part of a series of self-instructional teacher training manuals designed to assist vocational-technical educators or industrial trainers to develop and implement competency-based vocational education (CBVE) programs. The purpose stated for this manual is for the instructor to learn to construct performance and written…

This self-instructional, self-paced module is the fourth of five in a series, Competency Based Education Inservice for Part Time Community College Occupational Education Teachers. (See note for other modules.) Its purpose is to enable teachers to select and evaluate learning activities and to implement them in the classroom using suitable…

This unit of the Flexible Learning System (FLS), designed for teachers of children aged 4-8, introduces the concept of psychological integration and its application to language curriculum in early childhood education. Techniques for helping children use and extend their personal experiences in language arts activities are described, and the use of…

Reports results of a survey of industrial teacher education departments in colleges and universities to ascertain the number involved in competency-based teacher education and the extent of their involvement. Responses indicate that the majority of the departments are preparing teachers to develop and conduct competency-based education programs.…

This study investigates how a teacher study group collectively examined problems in their current English curriculum and redesigned the curriculum into theme-based lessons for various grades. Comprised of seven elementary school teachers and a teacher educator, the teacher study group met bi-weekly for three hours for a total of eight meetings.…

As the world economy continues to evolve, businesses and industries must adopt new practices and processes in order to survive. Quality and cost control, work teams and participatory management, and an infusion of technology are transforming the way people work and do business. Employees are now expected to read, write, and communicate…

The gap between existing skills and desired or required skills is the impetus for the development of business/industry standards. Professional associations have taken the initiative in setting skill standards; state licensing exams are used to certify workers in some occupations. An impending work force crisis has triggered a demand for…

This booklet, which has been designed for a diverse audience, including work team members, supervisors/managers, trade union members, employers, trainers, teachers/lecturers, human resource managers, and students/trainees, presents basic information about the purpose, content, and quality of competency standards for vocational education within the…

This handbook is intended for use in preparing persons from education, business, industry, and government for the role of DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) facilitator. An introduction discusses the following: what DACUM is, why it is unique, why it should be used, what the DACUM facilitator does, who uses DACUM, when it should be used, and its…

This report contains 26 performance assessments for documenting student employability skills. Each performance assessment consists of the following: a competency; a terminal performance objective (outcome); competency builders and pupil performance objectives (criteria for documenting mastery of the objective); applied academic competencies;…

This teacher and student guide for aquaculture contains 15 units of instruction that cover the following topics: (1) introduction to aquaculture; (2) the aquatic environment; (3) fundamental fish biology; (4) marketing; (5) site selection; (6) facility design and layout; (7) water quality management; (8) fish health management; (9) commercial…

Standards-based systems generally require students to meet the performance level specified in order to proceed or be certified. This issue of the Oregon School Study Council (OSSC) Bulletin surveys the types of standards currently being proposed. After an introductory chapter, chapter 2 describes eight components of standards, illustrated with a…

This document contains a brief report describing the development of validated competency profiles for business, home economics, and industrial education at the University of Missouri-Columbia, as well as a set of the profiles. The profiles are used to evaluate students' levels of mastery of competencies in the content areas of each course. Two…

The Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) is the most comprehensive reform legislation nationally, bringing substantial change to all levels of the educational system. A group of researchers who have spent time in schools in Kentucky and policy analysts knowledgeable about Kentucky and other state education reform efforts convened in October 1992…