Profiles: Programs & Products. Numbers 1-14, September
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 221 538 SP 020 233 TITLE Profiles: Programs & Products. Numbers1-14, Sepfember-November 1981. INiTITUTION Northwest Regional Educational Lab.,Portland, Oreg. PUB DATE 81 NOTE 43p. PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) -- Reports Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. 'DESCRIPTORS Administration; Classroom Techniques;*Competency Based Education; Continuous ProgressPlan;. *Curriculum Design; *EducationalInnovation; *Educational Objectives; ElementarySecondary Education; Flexible Scheduling;Individualized Instruction; *Program Development;*Program Effectiveness; School Organization; StudentCentered Curriculum; Student'Needs; WritingIn9truction if ABSTRACT Profiles of 14 educational programs andproducts are presented which focus on competency-and gbal-based education. Each report contains a descriptionof the background, Eloals, andmethods of the program or product, aswell as the address of a contact person. The programsdescribed are:(1) Project Write, designed to improve composition skills ofsixth, seventh, and eighth grade used in students (Washington);(2) a guided individualized approach Hood River Valley High School(Oregon) which allows flexibilityin moving through and between courses;(3) Whitney Community Learning ,Center's use of competency-basedcurriculum in a college preparatory high school (California);(4) a system-wide competency-based curriculum effort i the District of Columbia;(5) a plan used by Modesto (California) publicschools to improve classroomdiscipline levels; (6) required competenciesat ' and raise student achievement Newport-Mesa Unified SchoolDistrict (California); (7)a modularized curriculum prpgram at Bishop CarrollHigh School (Calgary, Alberta), characterized by a continuouslearning approach;(8) a basic skills M-a-stery learning project, SecondaryCurriculum Improvement Project and individualized ('SCIP),in LouisianY,-; and (9) continuous progress instruction at Chalmette High School(Louisiana). The products are: (1) guides for the Long-RangePlanning for School ImprovementSeries (LRPSI) used by the Pennsylvania Departmentof Education; (2) "Competency-Based Education: BeyondMinimum Competency Testing," a publication developed by the NorthwestRegional Educational Laboratory (Oregon); (3) a documentdescribing the goal-based assessment program used inParkrose School District(Oregon); (4) Wisconsin Program for the Renewaland Improvement of Secondary Education (WRISE); ,nd (5) theClearinghouse for Applied Performance Testing's "Captrends" newsletter(Oregon). (FG) ********************************************************************* the best that can be made * * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are * * from the original document. *********************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION ED CA ridNAt RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER .ERIC) r im,,orif 11,15 11110,1 reproduC011 aS fr.r,fho prrson ra ,ritriot.11,1 organization !WW1 tIld(le ImproVe ri141,,lb IS II file/7 IiIflhlIlIII., stAted in Ibis (11)CU 111On! EiI rIm ,sartly r,pre,ent offit pop,tfon Ir 0,111 LIINIE program/& product/ IT Program Profile Project Write Provides Effective CompositionInstruction For Middle School Students Project Write, a Title IV-C funded program, is designed to The first step in preparing a unit involves task analyzing the improve the composition skills of sixth, seventh and eighth grade general objective into instructionally significant parts. Here is an students: These grade levels were selected because it wasfelt example: that an intervention during the initialdevelopment of composi- tion skills would be more efficient than a remedial efforttargeted at high school students. 1 nc Project combinescurriculum devel- Objective #77- oprnent and instructional management strandsin a comprehen- sive writing improvement effort. Begun in 1979, theProject is The student will be able to compose short narrative,descrip- entering its third and final year of development. Sixteen class- tive or expository papers which demonstrate a strong control- rooms in two. middle schools, one eachin Camas and Battle ling idea and sAcessfully address audience and purpose. Ground, Washington, have been involved in the development and field test of curriculum materials and classroom processes. 7.1The student will be able to generate multiple ideas for Project Write includes the following key components. writing after engaging in formal and informal pre-writ- ing activities. Inservice training for project teachers in areas of mastery learning, composition instruction, materials usage Sequential composition objectives as a basis for instruc- 7.3The student will be able to use a list or another device tiOn to develop and organize thoughts for writing a para- graph. Development of a Cross-reference Guide to locate mate- rials related to objectives Development of new materials and screening of Commer- 7.5The student will be able to generate subordinating facts, details, ideas or examples which can adequately cial materials . develop and/or support the controlling idea of a para- Use of volunteers and peer tutoring for individualized as- graph. sistance Mastery Learning instruction Goal-Based Curriculum DevelopmentProduces an (sn Effective Tool for Teachers rt.) 7.9The student will be able to define narrative, descriptive The Project's approach to curriculum developmentis goal- and expository modes of writing and produce short ° based. At the start of the development phase, a set ofsequenced writing samples which serve as models for each type. rif composition objectives was produced throughcollaboration later distilled to C.) among teachers and writing experts. These were a set of ten broad compositionobjectives which became the basis for deNieloping curriculum materials. Eachobjective is tlfe focus of a complete curriculum unit. Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory Competency Bwed Education 300 S.W. Sixth Avenue Portland, Oregon 97204 (lumber 1September 1981 The skill sequence used in the Project "The Sheet- which summarizes Correctives: Enrichments begins -with an emphasis on writing all usage rules covered in the unit complete sentences and ends with stu- dents able to write a coherent, multi- Unit introduction for students Mastery Test paragraph essay with a defensible thesis and no structural errors. Diagnosti, ;retest Early in the project's development [AdditionalCorrectives phase, objectives were cross-refer- Supplemental w orksheets enced with a broad range of commer- cially available writing curriculum .ma- Check test terials. This effort produted a .-I. Retake fest cross-reference index intended for teacher use in preparing lesson plans. Correctives and extensions Later this index was withdrawn from Here iire sOme highlights of the in- classrooM use and used instead as a re- Writing assignment instructions structional process as used in the proj- source for the development of unit ect: packages offering more concrete re- Mastery tests (sommative) sources and with a content directly tai- lored to the mastery learning instruc- Prete.it,the pretest is used most4 rot Though very complete and detailed, progr4un evaluation purpoNe. UsuallY, tional approach. these unit guides are just that guides. few students meet criteria on pretests. Teachers are expected- to teach to the In cases where a student does pass the objective of the unit and use the mastery test, his her teacher either has the stu- learning approach t o instfuction. Be- dent participate in the unit as a means of yond that they are given flexibility in strengthening skills or routes the stu- TEACTILli TOOL KIT such matters t4s the content of daily les- dent to independent study that is also son plans, grouping and the details of related to writing. pacing. The Project Write curriculum is No! 'I...ludo+ not a highly stnictured "program- at Initial Instruction,This is whole In- notorento Wt. the level of day-to-day ,instruction gmup Ms-Mx-non. delivered and paced- Munwroontt. Wir 'Ants Tech ,tat stead, it is an organizer that helps teach- by the teacher. Iv st ruction mcludes drill Gwettive. Aft.T., ers provide etTective writing instruc- sheets and other techniques used to AlAjAr WOUTg Amyx., tion. Teachers use the process and teach the suhobjectiy es ot the unit. customize the content if thechoose to do so. (Although the content can be After sufficient u,sed with little or no alteration.) Writing Assilihment, development of the target skills in the TA, ,`,Ex,+RF unit, a' writing assignment is given that requires application of the new skills. Instructional Management These assignments are quite structured Focuses on Excellence in and take the student through prewriting TencluT Tool kits or unit guides contain a Learning for Every Student exercises and multiple drafts of' written wealth of resources to assist teachers in material. Students proofread their own achieving their goals. The project designers selected Ma., and others' draft work. Grading criteria tery Learning as the framework within ale explicit --students are told exactly Each a the curriculum units has two what skills they are accountable for. important points of emphasis. One is on which students would he taught the writing cjirriculum. Mastery learning is Teachers grade the papers using the cri- -the specific mechanics of writing as terra and a point sy stem. specified in the unit objective. The other a philosophy that holds that given ade- quate time and high quality instruction, is on the production Ora complete piece After