The ideal learning center is, in essence, a living definition of competency-based education. Such a center has the capability of meeting the diverse needs of adult school students while at the same time raising the coping skills or competencies of its participants on an individualized basis. (Author)

A major concern among physical educators is the public's apathy toward accountability in physical education. All students should be ensured achievement of minimal competencies for specific objectives. One approach for ensuring this achievement is a mastery learning strategy which would include developmental procedures, operational environment…

Underscores the problems of misunderstanding and misrepresentation in competency-based education (CBE). Proposes a definition of CBE, acknowledging that it must be adapted to individual colleges. Offers a rationale for adopting a CBE framework and provides an inventory model to facilitate the assessment of the quality of a CBE program. (CAM)

Assesses traditional ideas about remedial instruction, discussing common disjunctions between stated intent and practice in student assessment and program design. Sees skill development as a sequential process that needs to be conducted in an academic, subject-oriented context and to be related to students' academic goals. (AYC)

Three dimensions of humanistic education are used to examine the idea of educational accountability: the systemic-organizational, the interpersonal, and the personal. Implications of the personal dimension of accountability are presented. (JMF)

Describes Project CLASS (Competency Based Live- Ability Skills), which is aimed at adult basic education students who need instruction in basic skills in order to survive and earn a living in America. (JOW)

This article discusses similarities in educational trends in the United States and the United Kingdom, and criticizes the back-to-basics movements in each country. The need for further research in education and its application to the fullest development of children is suggested. (BH)

Project Adventure (PA) offers certification for adventure program managers and two levels of challenge course practitioners. PA feels certification is timely because other fields have certification programs that work well, PA has been using competency-based certification for their own staff successfully for 8 years, the field has recently…

Discusses research evidence for not including microcomputers in preschool environments; develops a theoretical base favoring computer use in early childhood that includes views of Papert, Piaget, Erikson, and competence development; and offers directions for software development through a review and description of successful microworld programs.…

Describes innovative methods of learning that sometimes bring a new set of problems to deal with. Describes how faculty compromise to facilitate the best education methods possible. (JOW)

In Australia, an extensive system of competency-based training (CBT) has been established. Business, education, and unions contend that CBT is more equitable in matching training with task needs, broadening the range of abilities, and enabling portability. But little evidence shows that it reduces divisions between vocational education and general…

The author argues that the behaviorist approach to learning inherent in competency-based education is inappropriate for teaching and learning at the higher education level, because it both prescribes and restricts content, methodology, and learning options. Discussion is in the context of a current British postsecondary education policy…

Both legal and psychometric principles suggest that testing accommodations for mental disabilities require additional analyses beyond that previously provided for physical disabilities. Examines legal precedents and psychometric standards. Concentrates on testing-accommodation requests for mental disabilities and concerns about test validity. (173…

This excerpt from "Measuring Up: Standards, Assessment, and School Reform" points out the limits of norm-referenced tests and discusses the pitfalls of making testing a high-stakes enterprise. Points out that the emphasis on standardized testing, and the push for school districts to score well, often has an inordinate and detrimental effect on…

Concerns about and objections to competency-based assessment in higher education are examined, including superficiality, use of inference, neglect of knowledge and of process, and subjectivity. It is concluded that, although each objection raises an important issue, in each case, a well-designed competency-based assessment system can overcome…