The Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) program, written into the Every Student Succeeds Act, gives up to seven state educational agencies the opportunity to launch innovative assessment pilots in their public schools, with the goal of eventual statewide implementation. As of August 2020, the U.S. Department of Education had…

The demographic profile of the United States has been rapidly changing; by 2020, minority students will constitute the majority of the public school student population nationwide. This makes cultural competence a necessity for today's school leaders. Educational leadership preparation programs are responsible for preparing culturally competent…

Educators today must be able to respond to the needs of an increasingly diverse student body and to teach all students the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for civic participation in a globalized, pluralist society. While state departments of education and national teacher organizations have begun to adopt global awareness in their teaching…

U.S. public university system policies were examined to learn how credit hours were determined for asynchronous online education. Findings indicated that (a) credit hour meaning and use are not consistent, (b) primary responsibility for credit hour decisions was at the local level, and (c) no policies exist to guide credit hour application for…

Competency-based training workshops based on Kolb's experiential learning theory were held for North Carolina adult basic education teachers; 251 attended 1-day sessions and 91 a week-long summer institute. Topics included interpersonal communication, reading, numeracy, language arts, math, assessment, and program evaluation. (SK)

From a sample of 353 North Carolina vocational teachers, 198 responses revealed that most are using state teacher handbooks and curriculum guides for competency-based vocational education, although competency test-item banks and student competency records are infrequently used. Factors influencing implementation are support of the state department…

The ninth recommendation in ACTE's high school reform position statement is to move beyond "seat-time" and narrowly defined knowledge and skills. United States high schools operate on a well-established set of expectations for size, time of day and seasons of the year that programs and classes are offered, how instructional material is…

The turn of the century brought a profound change in the accreditation of teacher preparation programs. This shift--from curriculum-based reviews to standards-based reviews--took place in the context of the accountability movement of the late 20th century. The 21st century ushered in what many refer to as "a culture of evidence." From…

Goals 2000, the Educate America Act, establishes a new role for the federal government in education by defining national education goals and by creating a voluntary system whereby states can receive funds in return for participation in national education reform. Summarizes the major provisions of Goals 2000, paying particular attention to…

The authors present a rationale for developing core competencies for training and organizational development in extension. Core competencies are defined as "the basic knowledge, attitudes, skills, and observable behaviors that lead to excellence in the workplace." Competency-based models can be used to create an infrastructure that…

North Carolina has begun a comprehensive, systematic approach to the reevaluation and assessment of the teacher education process. (Author/MLF)

To gauge the current status of and implementation problems with Competency Based Teacher Education (CBTE) in North Carolina's public and private colleges, questionnaires were sent to all deans and/or chairpersons of education in the state. This article presents tabulations of responses and individual comments from the respondents. (SJL)