Outcome-Based Education: Defining the Language Arts Curriculum

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AUTHOR Battistini, Jan, Comp.; Smith, Carl B., Ed. TITLE Outcome-Based Education: Defining the Language Arts Curriculum. Hot Topic Guide 56. INSTITUTION ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication, Bloomington, IN. SPONS AGENCY Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC. PUB DATE Apr 95 CONTRACT RR93002011 NOTE 86p.; All of the articles and book chapters included in this, and any other, Hot Topic Guide are reprinted with the express permission of their copyright holders. AVAILABLE FROMDistance Education/ERIC-REC, Indiana University, Smith Research Center, Suite 150, 2805 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47408-2698 ($15, prepaid, using Mastercard, Visa, or check made payable to ERIC/REC). PUB TYPE Information Analyses ERIC Clearinghouse: Products (071) Guides Non-Classroom Use (055)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC04 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Annotated Bibliographies; *Curriculum; Educational Philosophy; Elementary Secondary Education; Instructional Effectiveness; *Language Arts; Public Schools IDENTIFIERS *Educational Issues; *Outcome Based Education

ABSTRACT One of a series of educational packages designed for implementation either in a workshop atmosphere or through individual study, this Hot Topic guide presents a variety of materials to assist educators in designing and implementing classroom projects and activities centering on the topic of outcome-based education. The Hot Topic guide contains guidelines for workshop use; an overview/lecture on outcome-based education; and nine articles (from professional and scholarly journals) and ERIC documents on outcome-based education. A 44-item annotated bibliography of items in the ERIC database on outcome-based education is attached. (RS)

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. h,z, ..,27/7z.V,7/7/ 7./n/77,97/4.17,57 . illstmece edecation Hot Topic Guides on Sale! ' :.it " t.;1 or Save on Our Most Popular Titles! $15.00 each fti 2 Sin..,!.er111:4044 4::04A4..R;1..1.,:imig, t.! s.Ordi. Edit. . ParentalCircleHispanic the Involvement Hot Parental Topic InvolvementGuide Folders (L53) that interest you: alooinittain 414 WM Outcome-BasedOtherParentsResources Current as Tutorsfor IssuesHome Education in Reading Learningin Educaton: (L56) and Activities Writing in (L51) the Language Arts (L52) Address:Zip:City,Name: State: . TheCulturalGuidingLanguage ComputerChanging Literacy At-Risk Diversity Perspectiveas (L44) Studentsan Aidand to Reading inReading Readingthe Language Instruction Instruction Assessment Arts (L21) (L27) Classroom (L14) (L16) (makeMastercardMethodAcct.Credit checks #: ofCard Payment Information:payable (circle to ERIC/REC) one): Visa Check OrderPromotingIntegratingDeveloping Three Languagethe a LanguageDecision-Making Hot Growth Topic Arts across (L48) Guides'from Plan the for Curriculumthe Reading the (L18) ListTeacher Above (L25) TotalCardholder'sExp. Date:Amount Signature: Enclosed: and Receive a Fourth Guide Absolutely Free! 7/A.,7,,,,,77/97,Te/77V7,777777r,v, Fs, Thank You for Your Order! :1 In-Service Workshops and Seminars: Suggestions for Using this Hot Topic Guide as a Professional Development Tool

Before the Workshop: Carefully review the materials presented in this Hot Topic Guide. Think about how these concepts and projects might be applied to your particular school or district. As particular concepts begin to stand out in your mind as being important, use the Bibliography section (found at the end of the packet) to seek out additional resources dealing specifically with those concepts. Look over the names of the teachers and researchers who wrote the packet articles and/or are listed in the Bibliography. Are any of the names familiar to you? Do any of them work in your geographical area? Do you have colleagues or acquaintances who are engaged in similar research and/or teaching? Perhaps you could enlist their help and expertise as you plan your workshop or semirar. As you begin to plan your activities, develop a mental "movie" of what you'd like to see happening in the classroom as a result of this in-service workshop or seminar. Keep this vision in mind as a guide to your planning. During the Workshop: Provide your participants with a solid grasp of the important concepts that you have acquired from your reading, but don't load them down with excessive detail, such as lots of hard-to-remember names, dates or statistics. You may wish to use the Overview/Lecture section of this packet as a guide for your introductory remarks about the topic. Try modeling the concepts and teaching strategics related to the topic by "teaching" a minilesson for your group. Remember, if your teachers and colleagues ask you challenging or difficult questions about the topic, that they are not trying to discredit you or your ideas. Rather, they are trying to prepare themselves for situations that might arise as they implement these ideas in their own classrooms. If any of the participants are already using some of these ideas in their own teaching, encourage them to share their experiences. Even though your workshop participants are adults, many of the classroom management principles that you use every day with your students still apply. Workshop participants, admittedly, have a longer attention span and can sit still longer than your second- graders; but not that much longer. Don't have a workshop that is just a "sit down, shut up, and listen" session. Vary the kinds of presentations and activities you provide in your workshops. For instance, try to include at least one hands-on activity so that the participants will begin to get a feel for how they might apply the concepts that you are discussing in your workshop. Try to include time in the workshop for the participants to work in small groups. This time may be a good opportunity for them to formulate plans for how they might use the concepts just discussed in their own classrooms. Encourage teachers to go "a step further" with what they have learned in the workshop:. Provide additional resources for them to continue their research into the topics discussed, such as books, journal articles, Hot Topic Guides, teaching materials, and local experts. Alert them to future workshops/conferences on related topics. 11/94 After the Workshop: Follow up on the work you have done. Have your workshop attendees fill out an End- of-Session Evaluation (a sample is included on the next page). Emphasize that their responses are anonymous. The participants' answers to these questions can be very helpful in planning your next workshop. After a reasonable amount of time (say a few months or a semester), contact your workshop attendees and inquire about how they have used, or haven't used, the workshop concepts in their teaching. Have any surprising results come up? Are there any unforeseen problems? When teachers are trying the new techniques, suggest that they invite you to observe their classes. As you discover success stories among teachers from your workshop, share them with the other attendees, particularly those who seem reluctant to give the ideas a try. Find out what other topics your participants would like to see covered in future workshops and seminars. There are nearly sixty Hot Topic Guides, and more are always being developed. Whatever your focus, there is probably a Hot Topic Guide that can help. An order form follows the table of contents in this packet.

Are You Looking for University Course Credit? Indiana University's Distance Education program is offering new one-credit-hour Language Arts Education minicourses on these topics:

Elementary: I really enjoyed working at my own pace.... Language Learning and Development It was wonderful to have everything so organized...and taken care of in a manner Varied Writing Strategies where I really felt like I was a student, Parents and t1-.e Reading Process however -distant' I was...." Exploring Creative Writing with --Distance Education student Elementary Students Three-Credit-Hour Courses Secondary: are also offered (new with optional Varied' Writing Strategies videos!): Thematic Units and Literature Advanced Study in the Teaching of: Exploring Creative Writing with Reading in the Elementary School Secondary Students Language Arts in the Elementary School Secondary School English/Language Arts K-12: Reading in the Secondary School Reading across the Curriculum Writing as a Response to Reading Writing across the Curriculum Developing Parent Involvement Programs Organization of the Classroom Critical Thinking across the Curriculum Organization and Administration of a Course Requirements: School Reading Program These minicourses are taught by For More information: correspondence. Minicourse reading For course outlines and registration materials consist of Hot Topic Guides and instructions, please contact: ERIC/EDINFO Press books. You will be Distance Education Office asked to write Goal Statements and Smith Research Center, Suite 150 Reaction Papers for each of the assigned 2805 East 10th Street reading materials, and a final Synthesis Bloomington, IN 47408.2698 paper. 1.800-759-4723 or (8121855-5847 I

Planning a Workshop Presentation Worksheet

Major concepts you want to stress in this presentation:

Are there stdditional resources mentioned in the Bibliography that would be worth locating? Which ones? How could you get them most easily?

Are there resource people available in your area whom you might consult about this topic and/or invite to participate? Who are they?

What would you like to see happen in participants' classrooms as a result of this workshop? Be as specific as possible.

Plans for blowup to this workshop: [peer observations, sharing experiences, etc.] Agenda for Workshop Planning Sheet

Introduction/Overview: [What would be the most effective way to present the major concepts that you wish to convey ?]

Activities that involve participants and incorporate the main concepts of this workshop:

Applications: Encourage participants to plan a mini-lesson for their educational setting that draws on these concepts. [One possibility is to work in small groups, during the workshop, to make a plan and then share it with other participants.] Your plan to make this happen:

Evaluation: [Use the form on the next page, or one you design, to get feedback from participants about your presentation.]

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Ens-op-SEssion Evouurnom Now that today's meeting is over, we would like to know how you feel and what you think about the things we did so that we can make them better. Your opinion is important to us. Please answer all questions honestly. Your answers are confidential.

1. Check ( ) to show if today's meeting was Er3 Not worthwhile 1:1 Somewhat worthwhile Very worthwhile

2. Check ( ) to show if today's meeting was Not interesting Somewhat interesting Very interesting

3. Check ( ) to show if today's leader was Not very good Just O.K. Very good

4. Check ( ) to show if the meeting helped you get any useful ideas about how you can make positive changes inthe classroom. Very little Some Very much

5. Check ( ) to show if today's meeting was Too long Too short Just about right

6. Check ( ) whether you would recommend today's meeting to a colleague. [21 Yes No

7. Check ( ) to show how useful you found each of the things we did or discussed today. Getting information/new ideas. Not useful Somewhat useful Very useful Seeing and hearing demonstrations of teaching techniques. Not useful Somewhat useful Very useful Getting materials to read. Not useful Somewhat useful 1:3 Very useful I

Listening to other teachers tell about their own experiences. Not useful Somewhat useful Very useful Working with colleagues in a small group to develop strategies of our own. Not useful Somewhat useful Very useful Getting support from others in the group. Not useful Cl Somewhat useful Very useful 8. Please write one thing that you thought was best about today;

9. Please write one thing that could have been improved today.

10. What additional information would you have liked?

11. Do you have any questions you would like to ask?

12. What additional comments would you like to make?

Thank you for completing this form. It 0 Outcome-Based Education An overview by Jan Battistini, Language Arts/Reading Teacher, Sycamore Junior High School, Cincinnati, Ohio

Few issues have stirred the educational community in recent years as profoundly as Outcome-Based Education (OBE). Dr. William G. Spady has been promoting the term and its use for over twenty years throughout North America, but only in recent years has the term become widely discussed in school districts throughout the nation. Though OBE has often provoked emotional responses, there are objective questions to be raised about what OBE can and cannot accomplish in a given situation, and ways of dealing with legitimate concerns of parents and educators.Because of the high interest in OBE, it is imperative that both those entering the field of education and veteran educators be conversant with 08E principles and practice.

Principles of Outcome-Based Education The most basic premise of Outcome-Based Education states that all students are capable of learning and can achieve high levels of competency when teachers specify their expectations. Central to developing these expectations, the educator must first explore questions at the heartof the purpose and process of schooling: What do we want students to know and to be able to do? How will we know that they can do it? What resources must be available to ensure that all students succeed? How do we structure and pace an instructional program that prepares all students to perform well? What should teachers, administrators, and parents do to ensure appropriate opportunities for all students? Educators must keep in mind that implementation of OBE generally requires a restructuring of the entire educational system and consequently takes a significant period of time. Although evidence is limited, districts with more complete implementation of OBE also appear to demonstrate higher student achievement gains. For many school districts, OBE has been a refreshing source of empowerment for teachers and administrators, and has added a sense of direction to curriculum-building and staff development.

Concerns about Outcome-Based Education At its most basic level, then, OBE is based on the simple principle that decisions about curriculum and instruction should be driven by the outcomes educators would like to achieve.This premise may at first seem straightforward and unarguable. However, one issue OBE advocates have struggled with is whether one set of outcomes will fit the needs of all students, students who may have widely varied abilities and cultural and family backgrounds. In attempting to meet such a diversity of needs, sometimes contradictory outcomes have resulted. This has concerned some parents (especially of high-achieving students) who fear the overall curriculum will be compromised. Another concern about OBE implementation is that of time allotment. Without time constraints, students master subject matter at their own level of competency and do not go on to more complicated assignments until they have achieved mastery in a given field. Instructional levels are determined after initial assessment of student mastery, and learning time is varied according to the needs of each individual student. Thus, one implication of OBE that schools must deal with is that students start and end outcome sets at different times. A transition to flexible scheduling within a traditional curriculum is a necessary step for OBE school districts to take.

Hot Topic Guide 66: Outcome-Based Education1 Assessment is also a critical issue with OBE implementation.Educators need co understand the place for different kinds of performance assessment, and determine whento use which kind of assessment. Teachers must strive to invent assessments that are likely to improve performance. These forms of assessment may have to be newly developed by the teacher, and may be unusual or uncomfortable for both teacher and students at first. In addition, students must be trained to see assessment not as judgment on themselvesor their abilities, but instead an opportunity to enhance their learning, whether that assessment be through portfolio assessment or demonstrations in the arts and sciences. Instructionally sound assessment enhances the opportunities for staff and students to learn together. Some critics of OBE claim that, because of the need for new forms of assessment with OBE, that OBE-taught students may not succeed on traditional assessment tools such as standardized tests.Because high scores on standardized tests such as the CAT and SAT are valued highly in the worlds of work and academia, educators must deal with this issue. The aspect of OBE that has gained the most media attention is the assertion that some OBE plans teach students values rather than basic skills and knowledge.Many traditionalist or fundamentalist Christian groups have been particularly outspoken on this issue. These groups often object to affective (rather than cognitive) emphases in content- area courses, and they allege that students are being "indoctrinated- by outcomes implicitly or explicitly related to specific social, political and economic values. Better communication between these parents and educators, in particular during the designing of outcomes and assessment of these outcomes, is necessary if OBE is to continue in the school system. It can be argued that all schools have outcomes, whether by design or not. A school that does not specify desired outcomes simply accepts whatever outcomes result from the current educational processes. The current push for greater accountability from the public schools seems to suggest that this is not the road to take. A final concern that many educators have with OBE is that the research behind it is inconclusive. One problem is that many schools claiming to practice OBE appear to offer tie same sort of courses as before, and have simply drafted outcomes that echoed previous, unwritten outcomes. Other school systems have adopted OBE only on a limited basis, perhaps in one selected school or in a few independent classrooms. OBE implementation, if it is to be effective, must result in a thorough redesign of the school curriculum and needs to be system-wide.

Conclusion Some necessary steps that school districts implementing Outcome-Based Education need to take are as follows: Develop a strategy and implement it Provide teacher training and released time for planning by teachers Have local, state, and federal policymakers become effective partners Concentrate on improving learning for all children Identify ways to describe students' progress so the public can see it Be prepared for controversy Students, parents, and educators all have the right to expect the highest standards of academic achievement from their schools. The entire community should decide the standards by which schools or students must be held accountable. Here the onus falls upon administrators to ensure that agreed-upon criteria are accomplished through district-level curriculum planning, released time for teachers, increased staff development, and in other ways. There is no one model of OBE that Is Ideal for every school district, and the public needs to become aware that Outcome-Based Education is a process, and not a standard, fixed program.

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Reprinted by permission of OutcomesMagazine, Summer '92 It's Time to Takea Close Look at Outcome-BasedEducation William G. Spady

Interest in OutcomeBasedEducation (OBE) isgrowing at an astounding rate in allparts of the U.S.From state capitals to local districtboardrooms, to classrooms, to student counselingoffices, the term"student outcomes"is now a part of thecommon language ofour system. And, like smoke and fire, whenyou hear the word "Outcomes"you usually hear "Based"at thesame time.

As a person responsible for both Let's examine these pointsone at make up a performance. Fur- coining the term "Outcome a time. Based" and for promoting its ther, this demonstration hap- authentic use in school districts 'nth REAL MEANING OF pens in a real live setting, and is, therefore, influenced and defined throughout North Americaover "OUTCOME-BASED" the past twenty by the elements and factors that years (please see The terms Outcome-Basedand all of the citations at the end make up that setting, situation, of Outcome - Based Educationare or context. this paper), I can guarantee easy to explain, but they are not three things: easy to translate into our current Although we tend to take for 1. The real meaning of theterm system because it is Basedon granted that the school class- Outcome-Based is far different something entirely different r .a is the predominant setting from the way most people think from outcomes, and thetwo don't for learning outcomes, most of it; mix. Consider these basic points. other settings put learningto a much stronger test because the 2. The term itself, along with the First, an outcome isa demon- performances requiredare more rapidly growing movement that stration of learning thatoccurs complex and subject to much surrounds it, has evolved rather at the END of a learning experi- more variability. For example, a dramatically in the last several ence. It is a result of learning typical exercise in a social years; and and an actual visible, observable studies class would involve the demonstration of three things: 3. The authentic meaning of the students in learning about the knowledge, combined with functions of their localgovern. term has tremendous implica- competence, combined with tions for the complete transfor- ment, the bureaus or depart- something my colleagues and I ments that provide particular mation of our educational call "orientations"the attitudi- system, services, and the procedures to nal, affective, motivational, and follow to get informationor help relational elements that also from those agencies. Theconven-

6 Outcomes SUMMER 1992 tional demonstration of that when we put these two words learning would be to answer together, the term Outcome- questions on an examination or Based implies that we will to write a paper describing those design and organize everything governmental structures and we do directly around the in- servi.e.s. However, the "authen- tended learning demonstration tic life-context demonstration" of we want to see at the end. Other the same learning was played than needing to get clear about out in an Arizona high school what is meant by "the end," the classroom recently, when the concept is quite straight forward students took all of that informa- and rnakes,a lot of sense to most tion, designed the renovation of educators once they have some a city park that met all local practical experience with it. ordinances, and got the city Complicating Factors council to approve and imple- Outcome Based ment the design. But there are two major compli- defined cating factors that .aust be So, if we were to start our considered here, because they definition of Outcome-Based make the actual implementation outcome - A culminating dem- with these basic elements in of this otherwise straightforward onstration of the entire range. of mind, we would see that: 1) an idea very complex. The first learning experiences and capa- outcome is, in fact, a CULMI- factor is that the word Based NATING DEMONSTRATION of bilities that underlie it in a per- also carries a motivational and formance context that directly the entire range of learning ex- philosophical intent: WANTING periences. and capabilities that THE OUTCOME TO HAPPEN influences what and how it is underlie it, and 2) it occurs in a for ALL students! We BASE carried out. PERFORMANCE CONTEXT things on the outcome SO THAT that directly influences what it is the outcome will actually occur, and how it is carried out These for EVERYONE. In other words, defining elements clearly tell us based - To base curriculum de- Outcome-Based also means "Suc- signing and instructional plan- that an outcome is not simply cess-Based," and it directly the name of the learning content, implies that bell-curve thinking, ning, teaching, assessing, and or the name of a concept, or the quotas, and comparative grading advancement of students on a name of a competence, or a grade distributions and standard desired demon... ration. or test SCORE, but an ACTUAL systems have to be abandoned in DEMONSTRATION in an favor of w; tt is widely known as AUTHENTIC CONTEXT. "criterion-based" systems. That outcome-based, syn. success- Second, the term Based means to is extraordinarily difficult to do define, direct, derive, determine, in a school, district, or educa- based. To design and organize all focus, and organize what we do tional system devoted to bell- curriculum.and instructional plan- according to the substance and curve assumptions and methods. ning, teaching, assessing, and nature of the learning result that What makes implementing OBE advancement of students around we want to have happen at the even more problematic is the successful learning demonstra- end. In other words, to BASE second complicating factor: the tions for all students. things on outcomes we would totally TIME-BASED nature of start at the end pointwith our our existing educational system INTENDED OUTCOME and in all of its organizational and define, -'..erive, develop, and procedural aspects. When you organize all of our curriculum step back and really come to designing and instructional grips with this issue, you find it planning, teaching, assessing, almost impossible to identify or- and advancement of students on ganizational or procedural that desired demonstration. features of our system that are Veteran OBE practitioners call not both DEFINED BY and this the DESIGN DOWN or REGULATED BY the CALEN- "design back from the end" DAR and the CLOCK School process, and in strong OBE buildings, school years, semes- schools you often hear the ters, grading periods, courses, saying: "Design down from grade levels, Carnegie Units of 1 4 where you want to end up." So, Outcomes SUMMER 1992 credit, promotion, retention, collectively stopped to examine school entry, graduation, cur- what it would really mean to riculum organization, testing BASE our system on intended programs, and staff contracts are outcomes for all students rather 66 all defined and driven by the than on how long the educational calendar. process has been defined to last In a time-based system like ours, or how its curriculum and WHEN students are the calendar and clocknot delivery structures are already supposed to do some- student learning resultsare organized. As a result, in the the controlling factors in how name of OBE, educators and thing is fixed by The things are organized and oper- policy makers mistakenly: calendar and sched- ate. This makes the word "when" 1. Write outcomes about existing ule and takes prece- the most powerful thing in run- curricula instead of designing ning our system. The bottom line curricula that facilitate intended dence over WHETHER.of this reality looks as follows: outcomes; they do it successfully. WHEN students are supposed to do something is fixed by the 2. Tie outcome performance calendar and schedule and takes directly to the calendar at all levels of the system; 99 precedence over WHETHER they do it successfully. Add to 3. Equate time-based standard- this the fact that the bell-curve ized testing systems and results can only accommodate success with intended instructional for some students anyway, and outcomes; you can see that our system has no way to give WHETHER 4. Confuse specific, step-by-step students can demonstrate instructional objectives with outcomes successfully equal culminating outcomes of signifi- status with WHEN they must do cance; and otherwise the demonstrating. However, the 5. Refer to everything that has "success for all" intention of OBE anything to do with learning implies just the opposite: outcomes as Outcome-Based, no namely, that WHETHER stu- matter how time-based or dents learn important things curriculum-based it is. 66 successfully is more important than the day of the year or the Why? Because: I) the words hour of the day that it happens. Outcomes and Based are not Add to This The fact well understood, either sepa- that the bell-curve When stated in a slightly differ- rately or together, 2) the term ent way, this dilemma can be Outcome-Based has become can only accommo- seen as a tension between ends familiar and seems natural to date success for some and means, with time, programs, use whenever the issue of courses, and procedures as student outcomes arises; 3) it is students anyway, and means and with intended out- easy to assume that anything you can see that our comes as ends. In this light we that involves outcomes is, system has no way to can further see how tightly therefore, Outcome-Based; and coupled our system is to a whole 4) the real meaning and implica- give WHETHER stu- constellation of means, and how tion of the OBE concept are not dents can demon- loosely coupled it is to all those well understood in their own things that signify ends, such as right because few of us have had strate outcomes suc- outcomes, learning, standards, the time or opportunity to reflect cessfully equal status and achievement. seriously on or question the with WHEN they must So the issue is joined and the time- based character of our educational systemin part do the demonstrating. widespread mi--use of the term Outcome-Based can be readily because it is the only form of understood. The term education that any of us has ever known. Therefore, it is easy to 99 Outcome-Based is generally not being used appropriately assume that Outcome-Based is throughout our educational just another variation on how system because we have not our schools have always been.

8 Outcomes SUMMER 1992 1 3 THE EVOLUTION OF THE greater percentage of the popula- 66 OUTCOMEBASED tion than any other systemon CONCEPT the globe. Whether this is all Although Although OutcomeBased myth or truth is not the issue. models have been around for The issue is that the public Outcome-Based centuries in the form of craft system in particular did not have models have been guilds, apprenticeshipprograms, to improve in order to survive, military and business training, and it certainly was underno around for centuries in scouting, parenting, andeven press. re to change its entire the form of craft basis of functioning. "alternative high schools," its guilds, apprenticeship presence in our current schools But that, as you know, has has evolved out of the theoretical changed dramatically during the programs, military and and applied research of John last decade. The system has been business training, Carroll (1963) and Benjamin under steady attack from both Bloom (1968). the corporate community and scouting, parenting, In both cases, Carroll and Bloom very conservative members of and even "alternative encouraged educators to stop the public and is facing the high schools," itspres- using time as if it were an imminent threat of having its inflexible definer of learning monopoly on tax revenues ence in our current conditions and instead use itas removed, and private alterna- schools has evolved an alterable resource, based on tives subsidized. out of the theoretical the differing learning rates and Second, the basis of thisopen needs of students. They also both attack has been low-quality and applied research advocated the use of whatwe outcomes. Students entering of John Caro (1963) today call criterion standards of college and/or the work force do and Benjamin Bloom performancethat is, standards not seem to be equipped to deal that define the substance of with the heightened demands of (1968). what is to be learned and demon- a high-technology, rapidly strated rather than on the changing, highly competitive distribution of studentscores, market place. Improving and percentiles, or comparative documenting student outcomes performances. Their models set has been the focal point of major criterionbased performance policy initiatives in almostevery standards identically for all state capitol and in Washington. students, and allowed the time needed to reach that standard to Third, the word is finally out, vary. What we know as Mastery thanks to the visibility given to Learning, Competency-Based some of the significant pioneer- Education, and Outcome-Based ing OBE efforts of the past Education all share these two decade: OUTCOMEBASED defining features. EDUCATION IS POWERFUL, AND ITS LEADING PRACTI- If these ideas have been around TIONERS ARE ACHIEVING since the late Sixties and it has SOME VERY IMPRESSIVE, if only been recently that they not astonishing, RESULTS. seem to have caught on in a major way, what took so long for The convergence of these three the educational community to factors has led to tremendous discover and embrace them? interest in OBE among state departments of education and Three factors seem to have been local districts from coast to coast at work. First, until the middle But those seeking informationon Eighties, the public education what OBE means and how to do system of the U.S. was relatively it are seeing highly diverse and immune from threat. Certainly, even contradictory examples of every decade in this century has what it is, can be, and should be. had its reports, severe critics, and serious reformers,' but the In recognition of that fact, my system itself was seen as provid- colleague Kit Marshall and I ing more opportunity for a wrote a paper that was pub- 1(i 9 Outcomes SUMMER 1992 66 lished in the October, 1991 issue second chance to improve their ofEducatzonal Leadership initial performance on an assign- Traditional ap- entitled "Beyond Traditional ment or test of record, usually proaches to OBE at- Outcome-Based Education." The within the constraints of a given paper offered a very brief analy- marking period, in order to reach tempt to bring the sis, with examples, of what seem a "mastery" standard. clear criterion and today to be the three main trends in Outcome-Based design The basic purpose of Traditional flexible time principles and delivery models. We have OBE is to improve individual developed by Carroll given these trends the names teacher effectiveness (either in Traditional OBE, Transitional self-contained classrooms or in and Bloom into OBE, and Transformational grade-level or subject-similar time-based, OBE. teams) and to increase the percentage of students doing means-based schools What these three distinctive well on conventional measures of without altering the approaches to OBE reflect, I achievement, such as test scores believe, is a decided evolution in and grades, which almost always structure of either the the understanding and applica- occurs. The performance context curriculum or the tion of the two key factors is the individual classroom; and identified by Carroll and Bloom: curriculum organization and school. time and outcomes. This evolu- delivery are defined and con- tion has played itself out over strained by the calendar. While 9, the past twenty years and can be the organizational form of the characterized by an expansion, school changes little, a new from micro to increasingly philosophy and culture of success macro, of what outcomes are; usually infuses departments and how they drive different concep- whole schools. tions of curriculum, assessment, and student credentialing; how Transitional OBE schools define and organize time As the name implies, Transi- and opportunity for pursuing tional OBE lies between Tradi- them; and how curriculum, tional and Transformational in instructional delivery patterns, scope and purpose. The key and performance contexts need differences lie in the conception to be restructured to achieve of what is an outcome, what is outcomes of different kinds. the culmination point of that What follows is a thumbnail outcome, how should curriculum sketch of each of the three be designed to support those trends. outcomes, how can time and Traditional OBE opportunities be organized to appropriately foster those Traditional approaches to OBE outcomes, and what form deliv- attempt to bring the clear ery, assessment, and credential- criterion and flexible time ing and reporting systems 66 principles developed by Carroll should take to reflect those and Bloom into time-based, outcomes. means-based schools without At issue is a fundamentally ...Transitional OBE lies altering the structure of either the curriculum or the school. different conception of outcomes between Traditional They have been the standard that began to emerge in the and Transformational model of OBE for over twenty early Eighties: outcomes that years. In most of these models, reflect generic, higher-order com- in scope and purpose. outcomes in the form of fairly petencies of studentscompe- micro-instructional objectives tencies that cut across subject are derived from existing cur- matter lines, open doors to ricular programs, courses, and interdisciplinary curriculum units, and their focus is subject designs and teaching ap- matter content mastery. Time proaches, and redefine both the flexibility takes the form of meaning of "authentic assess- giving students some form of ment" and notions of an outcome being a culminating demonstra-

101i Outcomes SUMMER 1992 tion of learning. In particular, a and how it is structured to new term, "Exit Outcomes," accomplish those broader ends. denoting the culminating out- There are three keys to thisap- comes for students as they proach: 1) a process of strategic There are three keys to graduate and exit the system, planning and design which takes on special significance as examines the conditions our (Transformational OBE): the core basis of curriculum current students are likely to a process of strategic design for all grades and subject face in the future as they carry areas. out adult liferole responsibili- planning and design Transitional OBE extends far ties; 2) deriving from those con- which- examines thecon- beyond Traditional OBE in the ditions a set of Exit Outcomes ditions our current stu- way it redefines the role of that embody the complex role subject matter content in the performances that will be dents are likely to face in curriculum design and instruc- required of them in those future The future as they carry tional processes. Exit Outcomes contexts; and 3) deriving from out adult life-role respon- on higher-order competencies those Exit Outcomes the learn- replace subject content mastery ing experiences, processes, and sibilities; 2) deriving frnm as the definition of outcomes and contexts that will directly facilitate their accomplishment. those conditions a set of achievement, and subject con- Exit Outcomes that em- tent takes on the role of being a What this all means, briefly, is vehicle to assist in the cultiva- that none of the prevalent body the complex role tion and integration of these features, programs, and struc- performances that will higher-order competencies tures of schooling are assumed to things such as critical thinking, be inherently appropriate or be required of them in problem solving, and effective useful if they do not directly Those future contexts; communication skills. When support the Exit Outcomes that outcomes of this sort are used as a district defines. Parents, and 3) deriving from the fundamental purposes of the educators, policy makers, and those Exit Outcomes the instructional process, subject students are going back to learning experiences, matter tests and factual recall ground zero to design what fade into the background as needs to be in place in order to processes, and contexts indicators of student success, as accomplish these complex role that will directly facilitate does grading based on the aver- performance outcomes, and what aging of many disparate assign- existing things need to be their accomplishment. ments and tests over a fixed modified or abandoned. Obvi- period of time. This shift in the ously this opens the door to meaning of outcomes also creates profound changes in how people incentives and opportunities for view and design curriculum, interdisciplinary, cross-grade instructional processes, assess- curriculum designs, assessment ment and evaluation tools, centers, and teaching arrange- appropriate contexts for learn- ments which are not typically ing, when the learning should found in Traditional OBE occur, and who should be in- approaches. volved in the teaching and Transformational OBE learning process.' Here too the name says it all. In particular, implementers of The language and thinking that Transformational OBE recognize now constitute what we call an inherent mismatch between Transformational OBE began to the inherently inter and emerge about six years ago. The transdisciplinary, complex most recent implementers of this liferole performances they are approach are stepping outside of trying to achieve for students the given frameworks and and the segregated subject structures of traditional school- structure of our current curricu- ing and asking fundamental lum. They also question: 1) questions about the purpose of whether the classroom and the educational system, what it school building are adequate should be preparing students for, settings for developing and assessing these role perform-

1 1 Outcomes SUMMER 1992 18 antes; 2) whether the existing preparation for more schooling, grading, credit, promotion, and then models of Transformational If future-oriented graduation systems make any OBE will come to the fore, and thinking and policy sense if a district's ultimate goal traditional curriculum frame- for students is their culminating works, content, and delivery making prevail, and performance on Exit Outcomes; systems will be significantly the schooling experi- and 3) whether teachers alone modified over time. But if the should be the instructional purpose of schooling continues to ence gets defined as agents used to teach critical role- be defined as preparation for preparation for life performance competencies that more schooling in the traditional the school has traditionally content areas, then Traditional rather than prepa never addressed. OBE and the preservation of tion for more school- THE IMPLICATIONS OF existing content and delivery ing, then models of OBE FOR OUR -structures will emerge as the EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM dominant pattern of OBE im- Transformational OBE plementation. will come to The fore, Clearly the previous section suggests that the implications However, if the latter occurs and and traditional cur- which the widespread interest in schools retain their overall riculum frameworks, OBE might have on the educa- structure, how they operate is tional system in the U.S. are bound to be different along content, and delivery going to depend a lot on which of several key dimensions. These systems will be sign- the three approaches to OBE ul- differences directly reflect the cantly modified over timately responds to the needs of paradigm shifts inherent in the our society. Traditional OBE will implementation of any authentic time. mean the least change in pre- OBE model, regardless of ap- vailing patterns and processes proach. because both the system's 1. Decisions, results, and pro- 9, curriculum and organizational grams will no longer be defined structures will remain largely in by and limited to specific time tact even though internal opera- blocks and calendar dates. tions would change significantly. Things will simply be less Transitional OBE will stretch timebased than they now are. those organizational structures Students of different ages will more, but not enough to make learn sidebyside in more the school an unfamiliar place. flexible delivery systems than we But Transformational OBE have seen in most schools. implies a fundamental redefini- a' tion of the form that schooling 2. Grading and credentialing will takes, the things it attempts to be much more criterionbased But if the purpose of accomplish, and the symbols of and will focus on what students what the institution represents. can eventually learn to do well schooling continues to rather than on how well they do be defined as prepa- Which direction various states the first time they encounter and districts go will depend, I something. Averaging systems ration for more school- believe, on two primary factors: and comparative grading will ing in the tradifional 1) the degree of pressure schools disappear as the concept of face for preparing youngsters for culminating achievement takes content areas, then a future that looks to be mark- hold. Traditional OBE and edW different from the past; and 2) the role the university contin- 3. There will be a much greater the preservation of ues to play as a gatekeer.ser fo emphasis on collaborative existing content and occupational and economic models of student learning and delivery structures will status in our society and a much less interstudent competi- definer of appropriate curricu- tion for grades and credentials. The "success for all" principles of emerge as the domi- lum knowledge.If future nant pattern of OBE oriented thinking and policy OBE will prevail because they making prevail, and the school- are so powerful and so badly implementation, ing experience gets defined as needed. preparation for life rather than 4. Traditional curriculum struc-

1.2 1 U Outcomes SUMMER 1992 tures will, in fact, be modified With major changes such as Spady, W. G. (1987). On grades, significantly as the system these on the horizon, it behooves grading, and school reform. develops the capacity to respond all educators to inquire seriously Outcomes, 6 (1), 7-12. to differences in student needs into the possibilities inherent in and learning rates while at the authentic Outcome-Based Spady, W. G. (1987). Outcome- same time helping them accom- models-especially when they Based implementation in high plish high level outcomes of are not encumbered by schools: Things we are significance. Not all "courses" time-based, means-based learning. Outcomes, 6 (4), 1-8. will be nine months in length, assumptions and practices. Spady, W. G. (1988). Organizing nor will "passing" require that a REFERENCES for results: The basis of au- given amount of time be spent thentic restructuring and attending a particular class. Bloom, B. S. (1968). Learning for reform, Educational Leader 5. Teachers will be much more mastery. UCLA-CSEIP Evalu- ship, 46(2), 4-10. ation Comment, 1(2). focused on the learning capabili- Spady, W. G. (1991). Shifting the ties of their students and far less Carroll, J. B. (1963). A model of grading paradigm that per- on covering a given amount of school learning. Teachers vades education. Outcomes, 9 curriculum in a given time block. College Record, 64, 723-33. (4), 39-45. At the same time, textbooks will be replaced by intended out- Mitchell, D. E. and Spady, W. G. Spady, W. G. and Marshall, K J. comes of significance as the (1978). Organizational con- (1991). Beyond traditional driving force in curriculum texts for implementing outcome-based education, design and delivery, rather than outcome-based education. Educational Leadership, 49(2), the other way around. Educational Researcher. 7 (7), 67-72. 9 -17. 6. Curriculum tracking will Spac:y, W. G. and Mitchell, D. E. disappear, and all instruction Spady, W. G. (1977). Compe- (1977). Competency-Based will ultimately focus on higher tency based education: A band education: Organizational level learning and competencies wagon in search of a definition. issues and implications. Edu- for all students. The instruc- Educational Researcher, 6 (1), cational Researcher, 6(2), 9-15. 9-14. tional methods and materials Spady, W. G. and Rubin, S. E. used in gifted and talented pro- Spady, W. G. (Oct., 1978). The Achieving excellence through grams will be accessible to all concept and implications of outcome-based instructional students. k.Ompetency based education. delivery. Educational Leader 7. There will be far less reliance Educational Leadership, 16-22. ship, 41(8), 37-44. on norm-referenced standard- Spady, W. G. (1982). Outcome- Dr. William G. Spady is ized tests as indicators of either Based instructional manage- director of the High Success student or teacher accomplishment: Its sociological Network on Outcome-Based ment. Districts will custom- implications. Australian Education (HSP on OBE), P.O. design criterion-based assess- Journal of Education, 26 (2), Box 1630, Eagle, CO 81631. ment measures that directly 123-43. Phone: 303 / .37-7-110 Fa= operationalize the outcomes they 30313Z8-118` Reprinted with define as most significant No Spady, W. G. (1986). The emerg- permission from the National Asso- national or state assessment ing paradigm of organizational ciation of School' Psychologists publi system will ever be adequate for excellence: Success through cation, Communique. measuring all of the authentic planned adaptability. Peabody outcomes of significance that Journal of Educatio.,, 63 (3), local districts will want to foster. 46-63.

170

13 Outcomes SUMMER 1992 Reprinted by permission of Educational Leadership Magazine, March'94 Choosing Outcomes of Significance

William G. Spady

By defining various levels of The term makes it out the door, either into other outcomes has classrooms or into the world beyond outcomes, the Demonstration come of age. the school. Mountain provides educators Reformers from coast to What is an Outcome? with a model for moving from coast agree that Before leaping into a discussion of teaching simple classroom measures other than role performances. we need to estab- student grades and lish what outcomes are and aren't. skills to exemplifying life Carnegie units must Outcomes are high-quality, culmi- performanceroles. be used for deter- nating demonstrations of significant mining student and learning in context. Demonstration is district achievement. But what the key word; an outcome is not a outcomes are and what kinds should score or a grade, but the end product be expected of high school graduates of a clearly defined process that are still disputed. Determining what students carry out. students in the '90s need to learn and First, the,demonstration must be successfully demon- high quality, which, at a minimum, strate is further means thorough and complete. (This complicated by the criterion calls into question conven- emerging work on tional grading practices that accept national standards, and label all student performances. authentic tasks, and whether complete or not.) portfolio assessments. Second, the demonstration comes at The overriding issue the culminating point of the student's affecting the develop- learning experiences, literally "at or ment and implementa- after the end"not "during the expe- tion of outcomes rience" as most people seem tc today is significance. assume. The term exit outcomes has Do the outcomes we emerged for those outcomes that occur expect students to at the close of a student's academic 114 demonstrate matter career, and students in more advanced in the long run in outcome-based districts are going to 0iriqpi esir:PACali home.. life after formal be expected to demonstrate signifi- schooling? This issue has stimulated a cant, high-quality learning with that dramatic evolution in approaches to ultimate culminating point inmind. outcome-based education at the local Third, the demonstration must Nhow level since the mid-1980s. In its significant learning; significant simplest form, this evolution has been content is essential. Content alone, a shift away from small, relatively however, cannot be an outcome simple curriculum-focused segments because it is inherently Melt. Much of learning to much more complex like potential energy, it must he and comprehensive learning experi- manifested through a demonstratIon ences focused on life roles, which I process. call role performances. Why? Because Finally, all demonstrations ol evidence overwhelmingly shows learning occur in some cornett of that much classroom learning never performance setting. The conditions r, RDUC nos AI. DERsi BEST COPYAVAILABLE 4. -..., -':-r , I Li--'41--Ittiar,44 ...t. , ,....1:.*14-y.41 -' .. - I. Kla.,e,AtiPer...... --- tlk. AX-:_1.. . -4 I.": - i I._,F.,..;1- , ){, -1:1...a., . ..q.%, A i i' .. -- 2f.i :' ' ...I .016. t"' 1i '; 1..... -,1 ir41M2i 44*4 . %. tf. 4....1.44 . :.t: ,.1;.: ...... ,.....4,±5 "1' I.: it'"; ..` ,...... :... ,f. ",,f .....0.,,,a9."" ".."..'"1- r V. Id. v, '''.764.4.,

and circumstancesstudents face when learning demonstrations.The performing affect whatthey need to that can be applied ina variety of rela- complexity. generalizability.and know. do. and be like inorder to tively demandingperformance significance of each form ofdemon- succeed. quite apart fromthe cogni- contexts and settings. In thiszone. stration increase as we climbfrom the tive. technical. or interpersonalnature demonsw.uons are generalizable lowest level to the highest.Also of the task itself. Weneed only across cc vent areas andrequire increasing as wemove up the moun- consider the difference substantia, degrees of between in- tain are the ownership. integration. seat classroom demonstrations self-direction. synthesis. and functional and and self-assessment that application. public. on-stage performances students must thereby encouraging to apply to a demonstration. interdisciplinary recognize how important this approaches to developing the factor The least complex forms can be. of demon- outcomes. strations fall in the TraditionalZone At the highest level of themountain and are grounded primarilyin subject The DemonstrationMountain is the Transformational Zone.In this matter content. These formsand their The metaphor thatwe use in the High tone. demonstrationsrequire the classroom contextare relatively Success Network highest degrees of ownership. to explain differ- simple and limited integra- ences in learmnw outcomes to traditional tion. *miles's. and function:11 is the subject categories. Because applica- of their tion of prior learning because Demonstration Mountain. Themoun- strong content grounding. they t-- represents the act of these 'oust respond to the complesits climbing demonmrations are not 01 from basic demonstrations generalizable real -life pci tormance of class- across other areas of the contests room learning up to demonstrations curriculum or other performance that in% contexts: school is Beginning Our Climb e li mg effectiv,fly In the the only place where they face of leal-vorld are typicall Within each of the challenges at home. performed. three maim /lines at won l.. ,end III the on the mountain are two thlteient community. One Midway up the %ersion mountain lies the oi learning deinniiilationN I.shownIII Transitional Zone.iii %%Inch I Inlle tlemt,11 the holioni in theI !Almon:II /itlIC stratums ate rclati% el compleand Ihe mountainLonsists of three icrt mitt'111 Sion\ ConCICIC giounded in the kinds ofcompetence maim /ones ,nil dillercnt lomis kit dependent. these 1111l that transcend given subjectareas and le,11111I112 delllOilstratitills nortm

1 \,(, II Ivii Kr! BEST COPYAVAII.A13LE Figure 1

The Demonstration Mountain

Life-Role in scope, tightly structured by the Transformational Funotloolno teacher, and linked to small, specific Zone segments of curriculum content. The ' 110.4. skills demonstrated are virtually insep- arable from their content, as in reading passages for meaning, spelling specific words, carrying out specific Transitional Zone mathematical operations, drawi.-..g particular objects, or locating specific features on a map. While some of these Discrete Content Skills do eventually serve as Traditional Zone[idliglia enabling outcomes for demonstrations higher on the mountain, most of them are discrete objectives--small and detailed pieces of learning that constitute components in a larger change the nature of this form o1 In the next level of demonstration, block of curriculum content. An demonstration, though it may make its Complex Unstructured Task Perfor- example of a Discrete Content Skill execution more difficult. An example mances, personal ownership, self- used by Spence Rogers of the High from Rogers for this level is: direction, and self-assessment intensi- Success Network is: fies. Students create their own All students will conduct a research projects, defining the parameters, All students will correctly identify project on methods of initiating new laws at the local level and present their criteria, starIrds, and modes of local government procedures for execution and evaluation. These are initiating new laws. findings to the class and(or to their parents. the broad, complex demonstrations The next level of demonstrations, one finds in independent research and Structured Task Performances, may be Midway Up the Mountain high-level applied projects, and they the most prevalent and misinterpreted Climbing to the Transitional Zone of frequently require the integration of form of demonstration on the t ,oun- the mountain, we encounter Higher- knowledge from many different tain. These performances include a Order Competehcies. Higher-Order sources and disciplines. At their core, broad range of demonstrations that Competencies include analyzing Complex Unstructured Task Perfor- vary substantially in the degree of concepts and their interrelations; mances embody what Theodore Sizer mental processing required for their proposing solutions to multifaceted characterizes as significant "exhibi- execution. Examples include: writing problems; using complex arrays of tions" of learning (1983, 1984). a paper explaining a specific topic; data and information to make deci- Almost by definition, these demon- carrying out a laboratory experiment sions; planning complex structures, strations involve much higher degrees and comparing its results with estab- processes, or events; and communi- of latitude and independence than in lished theory; or drawing a map of a cating effectively with public audi- the Traditional Zone of the mountain. region at a specific point in history ences. All of these demonstrations can An example of a Complex Unstruc- and contrasting it with a contemporary involve many kinds of content. tured Task Performance is: Although they are more generalizable map of the same region. All students will design and carry out These Structured Task Perfor- across different kinds of subject areas a project on a major issue or problem mances represent most day-to-day and performance contexts than that uses data to heighten community classroom activities, homework outcomes in the Traditional Zone, they awareness and proposes feasible ways assignments, and work tasks. They do rely on some Content Skills and to address it by initiating new laws. typically involve completing a series Structured Tasks as enablers. The of steps that the teacher has defined example from Rogers for this kind of Heading Toward the Top (hence, the term structured), and they demonstration is: To enter the Transformational Zone of use Discrete Content Skills as perfor- the mountain is to depart from the All students will teach an adult civic formal curriculum and its content cate- mance enablers. In most cases, adding group how to initiate new laws in the to the number of steps required in a community. gones as the starting point and Structured Task Performance does not purpose of learning, Here we enter the 23 20EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP Fundamental Life PerformanceRoles Social and Interpersonal Rolesjews,siosii Team Memilers Supporters and social and interpersonalroles. All of and Partners Contributors. these roles can be carriedout in Trans- formational classrooms justas they can in authentic life contexts.An example of such a demonstrationis: Leaders and All students will organizeand partici- Teachers and Organizers *wasListeners and woo* pate in a community service teamthat Communicators Mentors monitors major community issuesand problems, develops alternatives including proposed changes inlaws for addressing them, andexplains potential solutions to keycommunity groups. Implementers and Learners and Creators and Performers 461.°1 Thinkers °mil* Producers Working with studentson a contin- uous basis, schools canprepare them to be: Implementers and Performers, who can apply basic andadvanced Problem Finders Planners and ideas, information, skills,tools. and and Solvers Designers technologies as theycarry out the 1114"1"ar responsibilities associated with alllife Technical and Strategic Roles roles. Thqy grasp the demandsof a particular situation anduse available realm of Role Performances. resources to get things done. Oper- frames of reference usedmost often in ating with authentic lifecontexts as Problem Finders and Solvers, schools, we might asktwo questions: who can anticipate. explore, the backdrop, studentsdemonstrate Are Complex Role Performances analyze, what real people do to besuccessful and resolve problems, examining possible in school? WhatRote Perfor- on a continuing basisin their career, underlying causes froma variety of mances link the world of schoolingto family, and community. Almostall perspectives and developingpotential real life? Figure 2 sets forth10 Funda- solutions. real-life role performancesrequire mental Life Performance Roles that Planners and Designers. complex applications ofmany kinds of will help us answer these who questions. develop effective methods knowledge and all kinds ofcompe- The figure can also and strate- serve as a template gies for resolving issues and tence as people confront the chal- for implementing transformational problems. Creators and Producers, who lenges ,,,rrounding them in theirsocial outcome-based education (Spady systems. seek new possibilities for 1991, 1992; Brandt 1992/1993). understanding or doing things andwho Grounded in these real-world The framework shown in contexts are Figure 2 transform those possibilities into Complex Role Perfor- outlines 10 clusters of performance mances.These performances occur original, workable productsor roles that are essentialto almost all of and recur as peoplecarry out their processes that change the operating the major life roles studentswill face environment. responsibilities; they involvea high once they leave schoolcitizen, degree of generalizability Learners and Thinkers,who across time employer, worker,parent, and civic develop and use cognitive toolsand and situations; and they demanda leader. Consistent with the high degree of ownership, SCANS strategies to translatenew information self-direc- Report of 1991, which hasbeen used tion, and self-assessmenton the part of and experiences into souniaction, and to shape the outcome frameworksfor their practitioners. ComplexRole who use their repertoire cfknowledge the states of Florida and Oregon, and strategies to extend their Performers have the motivationand Figure 2 serves as a design capaci- commitment to continually template ties for successful action byassimi- carry out for many districts throughoutCanada their role responsibilities.not jw,i lating, analyzing, and synthesizing and the United States. Thebottom new experiences. perform isolated taskson demand. section of the framework deals with Listeners and Comnamicators, Because this zone of the mountain technical and strategic Life Perfor- whocangrasp and express ideas. seems to lie beyond the structures and mance Roles, while the top contains information, intention. feeling, and

24 MARCII 1994112 concern toc others in ways that are clearly understood and appreciated. ,q1 They accurately comprehend anduse words. pictures. gestures, deeds. styles. symbols. and mannerisms to receive and convey thoughts. Teachers andMentors, who can enhance the thinking, skills. performance orientations. and motivation of others through the explanations they provide. the counsel they give, and the .0 example they set. They share the information. time. perspectives, and 44' skills at their disposal. Supporters and Contributors.who invest time and resources to improve the quality of life of those around them. team activities that explore important works like those in Figure 2 can Team Members and Partners.who issues or phenomena. use multiple serve as guides. contribute their best efforts to collabo- media and technologies, create prod- If schools can't guarantee successful rative endeavors and who seek agree- ucts that embody the results of Life-Role Functioning.a they can come ment on goals. procedures. responsi- students' explorations, and call for close by helping students become bilities. and rewards. setting aside students to explain their work and competent Complex Role Performers impersonal preferences in order to products to adult and student audi- with extensive experiences drawn from Wccompiish mutual aims. ences. In short. the classroom becomes real-life contexts. Accomplishing this Leaders and Organizers.who can an active, high-challenge learning will make the climb up the Demonstra- initiate. coordinate. and facilitate the environment and performance center. lion Mountain both compelling and accomplishment of collective tasks by The question that remains. however. rewarding for schools. their students. perceiving and defini' g intended is whether schools can address and and their communities. results. determining how they might support theLife-Role Functioning be accomplished. anticipating road- outcomes at the top of the Transforma- References blocks. and enlisting and supporting tional Zone. Can students carry out the Brandt. Ri December 1992/January 19931 the participation of others to achieve requirements of adult citizens. "On Outcome-Based Education: A the results. workers. employers, and parents while Conversation ssith Bill Spady.- Educo If preparing students for this now! Leadership 50. 4: 66.70. still young and in school9 To say no is Secretary's Commission on Achieving constellation of 10 Life Performance easy: performances at that level Necess;ry Skills (SCANS I. 119911 Illicit Roles looks like a major expansion of require that pee ale he in those life- Work Requo.r% of Sthooh. Washington. the school's vision and priorities roles and deal with the conditions and D.C.. U S Department of Labor. beyond the practices of the Traditional challenges that they encounter in those Suer. T (June 1983). "High School and Transitional Zones of the moun- Reform The Need fur Engineering real-life contexts. Delta Kommo 64. 10: 679-683. tain.it is. To provide this level of On the other hand. states and 'suet'I(1984i Huracc''sCOMpri /1111Ne learning will require a transformation districts can design learning espial hr01/(q/1/1111 I)/the Amcor tar MO( of what schools are and how they ences and performances that can set c 1( Iwo/ Boston Houghton Nhillin '31),t(lt\\ spend their time. But our young as exit outcomes based on Ihe Icalitics (1 (Spring 1991) "Shifting illc (11.61111? Paiadigni Thai Pervades lidoco people deserve the significant learning faced by today's adults and on the )11)11 Om( anrc' 19 4. 39.45 experiences and capabilities that the realities that we anticipate will lace Sp.ids . (i (Summer 1()92 Time 6) Lite Performance Roles represent. the adults of lemon ow These nertin I .11.e (.1(),e al Outcome liased he learning environments that minces can be simulated in both 1.dw..1111111 (11(t«,mo I I. 2 6 I .untinuously involve students in all 10 typical educational settings and In OW s of Performance Roles are not ieal-%1/4 odd owlex \%1111 %%hi( h _ . mpossible tit L.t nceive. design. and %Chili+,.111' 1111,IC ,'rill IIhuC 1\ 11IIJr11 (,...platy4 isI ).11(1 6)1 (odic implement The key is to continually 1111'0(101 business 1101 '-,11( \wisvurk. I' ( )liesI () ti engage students in both individual and service lear111114 pifignims1:1 dine ( t) It I 6 I 1

EUV % I ION AI 1,1.ADLRS14W 2 THE.

NUMBER 3/OCTOBER 1987 A Regional Newsletter About OutcomeBased Education

The OBE Bulletin is published three times a currictilum organization is a fundamental district and school (lawny in year and distributed to all schools in California. Nevada. Arizona and Utah by Far implementing outcome-based education. Bcause it can consume West Laboratory for Educational Research considerable energy, it is important that thsiros and schools address and Development The publication is supported by federal funds from the U.S. issues of curriculum organization efficiently and not impede the Department of Education. Office of implementation of other components of outcome-based education. This OBE Educational Research and Improvement. Contract No. 400-86-0009. The contents of Bulletin discusses the concept of curriculum organization in outcome-based this publication do not necessarily reflect education and suggests ways that may hetp a school or district complete this the views or policies of the Department of Education. nor does mention of trade activity. names. commercial products or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government Reprim rights are granted with proper credit CURRICULUM ORGANIZATION IN

Writes': OUTCOME-BASED EDUCATION Men Bern David Squires Specifying learning outcomes is the start- the best pedagogical knowledge ing point for curriculum organization in in a school or district. Editor: Curio Kalianto outcome-based education. Clearly defined, The third activity is to align the i.urrica- publicly-stated outcomes provide the focus lum in two ways. First. the existing cur- for districts and schools to structure their riculum documents. from exit outcomes to curriculum. Although most districts have lesson objectives. need to be consistent philosophy statements and scope and Second. the curriculum should be aligned sequence materials as policy documents, with the assessment instruments that the in many cases they do not provide the district uses to evaluate the effectivenetAs of necessary structure for the curriculum nor its educational programs. do they provide an adequate guide for Alignment is not an easy task. prin.:aril\ teachers to plan instruction. Consequently, bei-ause there are often several sets ol both teachers resort to using what is available curriculum documents and tests to be co- and useful to them. namely textbook objec- ordinated. For example. a district might tives. textbook sequence, and textbook have state frameworks and curriculum tests. guides, its own district philosophy 3t.lte Defining useable learning outcomes, ments and scope and sequence docu then, is a critical first activity. Once learn- ments. and textbook series to coordinate ing outcomes are outlined and organized. With respect to testing. a district mig,ht rc -(q the next activity is to adopt ordevelop to administer achievement tey.t. FAR WEST LABORATORY from a state assessment program kba:zed on FOR EOLIC41041LRESEARCH appropriate curriculum materials for those AND DEVELOPMENT outcomes. It is easy to rely on textbooks to a state-level framework or curriculum 1855 Folsom Slaw define curriculum. The real challenge is to guide), also have a district-developed to -t Si" hoodoo CA 94103 go beyond the textbook and organize cur- trig program (usuallycriterion-referencerequiredd (415) 555.3000 riculum materials into teaming units. and linked to district scope and sequeme Learning units outline topics for several documents), and be mandated by the CIIIPU weeks of instruction and specify ways the school board to administer a standardized OFFICE OF EDUCAPONAL achievement batteryry to provide state RESEARCH ARO IMPROVEMENT topics can be taught. Learning units are US IMPARTMENT OF EDUCATION working documents that, in effect, collect national normative data Figuring oil

0 tests need to be aligned to which curricu- Defining Outcomes lum documents is often a confusing task. Learning outcomes can be defined in A final activity is to devise a means of several ways. At the secondary level. for managing the curriculum. Not only does the example. a common organization would implementation of learning units need entail three levels: general learner out- monitoring. but formal procedures are also The primary aim is to comes. program goals. and course objec- required for revising the curriculum based tives. At the elementary level. it is common on teacher experience. As working docu- connect the general to place more emphasis on grade-level ments. learning units should undergo re- objectives. Three kinds of outcomes are vision as expenence provides pedagogical defined here: exit outcomes, unit objec- educational goals for knowledge about what works well with par- tives. and lesson objectives This classifica- ticular topics. tion distinguishes outcomes in terms of students expressed in These four activities are discussed their breadth and specificity. defining outcomes, developing learning district and school units, aligning curriculum, and managing DOT OLTCOMES. Exit outcomes express the curriculumin the remainder of this the broad educational goals toward which philosophy and exit issue. A word of caution to readers: These schools design their programs. Exit out- four activities are not a recipe and do not comes can be organized to correspond to outcomes to the daily include all the steps that a school or dis- the district's school organizationsfor ma might follow to organize their curricu- example, elementary. middle, and secondar and usually reflect the dis- lessons students lum. This outline serves only as a map that can help guide one through the complexi- trict's philosophy about the types of learning it deems important. Such statements experience. ties of curriculum organization. The primary aim is to connect the general educa- reflect cognitive. affective, psycho-motor tional goals for students expressed in and personal goals for learners. For exam- district and school philosophy and exit ple Figure 1 presents the general learner outcomes to the daily lessons students outcomes for Township High School Dis- experience. We believe these four activities trict Number 214 in the Chicago area. begin to accomplish this goal. The primary limitation of such statements is their generality. It is difficult to connect such statements to the day-to-day realities of classroom teaching Teachers do Figure 1 not often think of exit outcomes: daily General Learner Outcomes for Township High School District 214 existence is caught up with subject areas reading period. is first. mathematics is second, and so on. It is important. there- District 214 graduates will demonstrate: fore, that exit outcomes become connected to daily learning activities. District stan- VerbPI, quantitative, and technological literacy dards for subject areas is one way to help ensure that exit outcomes are addressed in Skills in communication and group interaction each subject. Skills in problemsolving and group interaction District standards define the content and cognitive processes for a subject area Skills in expressing themselves creatively and responding to the creative in a district. They help to explain and jus- works of others tify why topics are included in the curriculum. Subject area content is elicited b ask- Civic understanding through the study of Arnencan culture and history ing "What knowledge is important for students to have in this subject arc in Understanding of past and present culture Red Bank Public Schools. for example the Concern, tolerance and respect for others reading language arts committee delined seven content areas reading,literature Skills in adapting to and creating personal and social change writing; liftening and speaking. rheion, Capacity for enhancing and sustaining self-esteem through emotional, intel- logic arid thinking skills. media pr du. tion and analysis. and study skills :ur-e, lectual, and physical well-being area processes arc elicitedby asking hat are the general ways knowledge indo- Skills necessary to be selfdirected learners subject is discovered?" In Red Bank acain the reading and language arts proses.

2 27 BEST COPY AVAILABLE LNIT OBJECTIVES Unit objectives are the EXIT OUTCOMES learning outcomes for a particular subject. Each subject areamathematics. reading, & 4 language arts. science. social studies. for- eign language. the fine arts. physical edu- DISTRICT STANDARDS cation. vocational education. and others has its own set of outcomes guided by 4 district standard: Collectively. these unit outcomes are written such that their attainment provides the basis for students ONIT. OBJECTIVES to acquire the appropriate content and processes of the district standards and the MASTERY TESTS broader exit outcomes. Unit objectives represent two to four weeks of instruction. They are written at a 4 level of specificity between lesson objectives and exit outcomes. Lesson objectives LEARNING UNITS are useful for daily lesson planning but too Unit objectives should numerous for program organization. while a a exit outcomes are useful as general goals characterize a teacher's but too broad to design subject area cur- LESSON OBJECTIVES riculum. Each subject area has between 10 intuitive notion of what it to 20 units for a year are based on recent research on effective Unit objectives are relatively complex means to master a strategies for teaching and learning com- and reflect the aspects of content and pro- munication skills cess mentioned in the district standards complex set of concepts Considerable work has already been For example. consider the following unit done in the area of constructing district objective for fourth-grade reading in Red or skills. standards. Professional societies such as Bank: the National Council of Teachers of We will practice comprehension by applying Nlathematics and the National Council of skimming/scanning techniques, by reviewing Teachers of English publish articles about sequencing skills and by writing summaries the structure of their disciplines. Content based on the novel. The Summer of the Swans. area experts. such as professors who pub- We will respond to each other's summaries by lish textbooks on how to teach a particular suggesting strengths and areas of improvement. subject area. usually define a structure for subject areas. Other sources include state This unit objective addresses district frameworks. like those published by the standards in four areas: (1) reading California State Department of Education. skimming, scanning and sequencing, (2) model curriculum guides. statements of phi- literaturethe novel The Summer of the losophy and exit outcomes from other dis- Swans, (3) writingproducing and editing tricts, and teachers. Because the structure summaries, and (4) communicationpro- of a discipline changes slowly, district viding feedback on strengths and areas of standards may have a life of 10 to 15 years. improvement. This unit objective is also District standards then, are written related specifically to exit outcomes in descriptions of the general topics in the literacy, cultural knowledge, and attitudinal curriculum and the cognitive processes outcomes. expected of students. They specify the Unit objectives should characterize a rationale for including the topics in the teacher's intuitive notion of what it means curriculum District standards are tied to to master a complex set of concepts or the exit outcomes. using the language the skills. Writing unit objectives In this way district constructed for the exit outcomes. helps avoid fragmenting the curriculum Since they help guide the specification of into individual skills and also helps to unit outcomes the district standards pro- ensure that student mastery is demon- vide a bridge from the more general exit strated by the use of several concepts or outcomes to the more specific unit skills and not just isolated skills out of objectives context.

3 4 . BEST COPY AVAILABLE LESSON OBJECTIVESLesson objectives descriptions. are the objectives that make up the daily Third. form subject area committees to instruction of teachers. Lesson objectives develop district standards Master teachers guide the day-to-day teaching activities of can play a leading role in these commit- a learning unit Attainment of lesson objec- tees The principal might also be included tives leads to mastery of the unit objective on at least one subject area committee so A task analysis of the unit objective will that he or she would be familiar with the generate the lesson objectives. A task anal- development process. Participation by ysis is completed by asking "What compo- principals is important because they will nent skills or concepts does a student ultimately be responsible for assisting need to possess in order to achieve the teachers in reaching unit objectives in all objective for the unit?" Answering this areas of instruction. question will quickly generate the lesson objectives and suggest a likely sequence for Developing Learning Units presenting the lesson objectives during the Learning units organize two to four weeks learning unit. Although lesson objectives of instruction. Although there are many One important feature of are important. they should not take prece- ways to organize units. all mastery learning dence over unit objectives. Lesson objec- units contain five components: (1) open- learning units is that they tives are best thought of as skills and con- ing lessons to set the stage for later learn- cepts that enable students to master the ing, (2) initial instruction. (3) a non- unit objective and are necessary only in so graded formative test to identify masters organize, in one place, far as they assist the student with the unit and non - masters. (4) provisions for pro- objective. viding alternative learning activities for the best pedagogical those students requiring additional instruction (non-masters) and those students knowledge and materials GETTING STARTED To get started in requiring extension activities (masters). defining outcomes. three tasks are often and (5) a second administration of a paral- available in the district to helpful. First. establish a district committee lel mastery test. to examine existing statements of exit out- One important feature of learning units. teach the unit objective. comes and develop one of its own. This is is that they organize. in one place the best not an easy task. Developing an exit out- pedagogical knowledge and materials come document forces a district to focus available in the district to teach the unit directly on the purpose and philosophy of objective. As teachers gain experience with education and to examine its own. often a unit, the techniques that work best for unspoken. assumptions about what educa- particular lessons can be incorporated into tion should be in society. It also focuses the unit. One way of thinking about learn- attention on the curriculum and begins to ing units. then. is as the written. collective lay a foundation for future curriculum intelligence of a district on teaching. work. A second important feature is the formal Second. describe the curriculum that is mastery testing and correction procedures. currently used in the district by asking These critical procedures provide teachers teachers to outline 10 to 20 units of with the information necessary to target instruction in each subject area. A unit of instruction effectively. NVhile it is true that instruction can initially be defined as a good teachers regularly monitor student chapter in the textbook or the curriculum learning informally and adjust their teach- taught between major tests. Teachers can ing accordingly. the mastery testing and describe each unit of instruction by giving correction procedures ensure that no stu- a title to the unit. such as "America After dent's progress goes unnoticed The 111.15- the Civil War" or "Three-Digit Subtraction tery testing process also provides data on With Carrying." Teachers might also use student learning which arc useful for cur- task analysis procedures to list three to five riculum revision. lesson objectives students would master during the instruction. Department chair- GETTING STARTEDTeachers design and persons on the secondary level. and grade- develop learning units. It is important level leaders on the elementary level, can therefore. that teachers understand the work together with their principals to philosophy and practice of masteryIcarn-410 organize and collate the instructional Ing and outcome-based education before

4 29 being asked to develop units A solid con- Table 1 ceptual understanding is usually prerequi- Percentages of Tested Topics Covered in Each Textbook site to teacher commitment. for Fourth-Grade Mathematics A second task is the writing of learning unit specifications 1...irning unit specili- catiorti provide re.k.liers %.%ith a model or Te,tbook guide for de eloping and organizing lessons into a unit 4-e,:ifications often 'eat Adaison.Wesiey Holt ii-loagrton MifflinScott. Fcresrra- include delinitions and examples of Wt. terent unit elements. questions to address MAT 138 :Opal 32 50 40 42 in each unit. and suggested formats for outlining unit materials. In Red Bank. for Stanford .'2 topics, 22 22 21 22 example. the unit specifications address thirteen elements mental set: rationale: Iowa 166 topics) 26 29 32 25 objective; prerequisite skills: task analysis: CTBS.I 153 topics} 32 32 38 36 parent activities: input: guided practice: independent practice. formative test: cor- CTBS.II 161 topics} 28 38 38 34 rectwes. extensions: and mastery test. The final task is actually writing the units. This is a difficult. time-consuming Note:Adapted from Freeman. Kuhs. Porter. Floden. Schmidt. and Schulte (1983). actn-ity requiring district support for Percentages are based on topics covered by at least 20 problems in a book. teachers in the form of release time. summer stipends. and common planning time for collegial work. Distncts can also Do the unit objectives support the exit arrange to share units among therrseives outcomes? so that work is not duplicated. It is impor- Answering these questions will likely tant to maintain realistic expectations. uncover inconsistencies and holes in the however. Learning unit development is a curriculum documents that should be long-term activity and districts must find addressed. Building curriculum consis- ways to compensate teachers for their tency. then, is one way of aligning efforts. While it is true that good curriculum. A second interpretation of curriculum teachers regularly Aligning Curriculum alignment is "testing what is taught." Test- There is no doubt that the term cur vulum ing what is taught requires a district to use monitor student learning alignment has come to mean different tests that closely match the curriculum that things among educators. Two interpreta- has been implemented. Analysis of com- informally and adjust tions of curriculum alignment that are monly-used textbooks and achievement important to curriculum organization in tests reveals a lack of overlap between their teaching outcome-based education are discussed xtbooks and tests. For example. in a here and ways of applying them are fourth-grade mathematics study by Donald accordingly, the mastery outlined Freeman and his colleagues at the Institute One interpretation of curriculutualign- for Research on Teaching at Michigan State ment is the coordination of curncuiium University, topics covered in each of four testing and correction documents. In outcome-based education. textbooks and five standardized tests were this means that exit outcomes. discict carefully examined. Table 1 presents the procedures ensure that standards. and unit objectives are consis- percentage of tested topics covered in tent with each other. A curriculum commit- each textbook for those topics represented no student's progress tee needs to address the following by at least 20 mathematics problems in a questions: book. goes unnoticed. Do the district standards reflect tile exit Test-textbook correspondence ranged outcomes? from a low of 21 percent to a high of 50 Are the district standards comprehen- percent. In the worst situation, a district sive enough to include all appropriate using the Stanford Achievement Test with unit objectives? the Houghton Mifflin mathematics text- Do the unit objectives contain the con- book. the achievement test measured only tent and processes specified In &be dis- 2) percent of the topics covered in the trict standards? textbook. Even in the best situation, a dis- tact using the Metropolitan Achievement of the instructional program Tests with the Holt mathematics textbook. Some educators erroneously think of the achievement test still only measured 50 cumculum alignment as a shortcut to percent of the topics covered in the instructional improvement While it is true textbook. that test scores often increase when cur- Clearly a school or district's test results nculum and tests are brought more into are dependent. in part. on the particular alignment. it is a one-time increase that combination of textbook and test used has nothing to do with better instruction More importantly. the accuracy of the test An aligned curriculum merely allows the scores as indicators of topics learned by test scores to accurately reflect what is students is adversely affected when there being learned by students is little correspondence. If only 20 to 50 Other educators belie e that tests should percent of the curriculum taught is being dictate the curriculum. The% start w irh the tested. then the test scores reflect more of test and define the cumculum as that what students already know (ability) than covered in the test Although in some eases what students have been taught a district may reasonabl decide that the (achievement). topics covered in a particular test are in A second purpose of curriculum align- fact the elements that should be included ment. therefore. is to increase the validity in the curriculum. it is more defensible to of test scores and improve their usefulness. first define the curriculum and then select In other words. an aligned curriculum is or construct the test that measures the cur- organized so that test scores reflect what nculum specifications District standards has been taught. Test scores then provide not test publishers should guide usefu' information about the effectiveness clecisionmaking Typically. a distnct's curriculum alignment must be adjusted. Changes in tests. textbooks. objectives district standards Staff Development Activities and exit outcomes throw the system out of alignment to some degree. With the cur- for Curriculum Organization nculum organized into learning units however. the realignment process may be easier. Realignment can be based on learn- Define Outcomes ing unit objectives rather than lesson Establish (an outcomes objectives Unit objectives are easier to Wnte unit objectives manage because curriculum committees Develop district standards are not overwhelmed by hundreds of possible lesson objectives every time realignment is necessary. Learning units and unit Develop Learning Units objectives are manageable building blocks Understand mastery teaming rationale for curriculum organization. Develop learning unit specifications O Site initial instruction Managing the Curriculum Implementing a complete scope and Design formative and mastery assessment instruments sequence of learning units can be facili- Develop extension and corrective activities tated by a good management system A good management system needs to be able Align Curriculum to do several things. First. information is Organize exit outcomes, district standards, and unit objectives needed on when teachers have taught the learning units and which students have Match curriculum and tests mastered each unit in the curriculum Second. teacher experience with the CL:r. Manage the Curriculum riculum will indicate particular units hat Monitor laming unit implementation and student learning need revision. the management systen- should provide a way of collecting this LI Maintain and revise curriculum teacher information and acting on it O Design staff development activities Third. student learning data can provide information on areas of teacher expert; -c

6 in the district A good management system recommend, on the basis of input from the can use this information to suggest a staff pnncipals. where district-wide needs exist development strategy that capitalizes on so that appropriate coordination of staff teacher expertise Methods for each of development activities can take place for these three management tasks .ire dis- he following year. Such activities might ,:ussed below involve planning a new instracuonal unit. The first task 01 a management system is implementing a new instructional strategy. to ,no.iitor the imple:nentatit in ot 'earning or gathering data on an area of curriculum units The school principal can he respon- which needs to be improved By following Unit objectives are easier sible for this monitoring In Red Bark Pub- such a proass. the curriculum becomes the yearly plan for the district. lic Schools. for example the principals ask to manage because each grade level at the beginning of the Every five to ten years the committee school year to specify approximate dates needs to review and update the district curriculum committees when the unit tests will be given during standards to insure that the standards are the year. The principal then follows unit still congruent with recent research. with implementation and student achievement the best instructional practice. and with are not overwhelmed by on unit tests. This monitoring provides emerging conceptions of what is appro- usehil information for future curriculum priate to teach in schools. For example. the hundreds of possible planning since a good record is main- recent call for computer literacy has neces- tained of what units were or were not mas- sitated the introduction of a new subject lesson objectives every tered by students. area into the curriculum. By reviewing dis- A second task of a management system trict standards for each subject area, staff time realignment is is eumeiiiiim revision. Curricula need to be can make decisions about how computers refined and updated yearly so the learning should be used. Thus the district's curric- necessary. units reflect what teachers learned about ula can evolve in an orderly and manage- the teaching of the unit. The curriculum able way while assuring that the best of committee that produced the district past practice is incorporated in present standards might meet once a year to instruction. review the learning units at each grade A third task of a management system is level. District standards can be used to to pro% kie information for staff development. screen suggestions and make recommen- When student learning data are routinely dations for deletion or addition of units. collected, the district staff development The curriculum committee can also program can be tied directly to improving

Table 2 Number of Students Mastering, Passing, and Not Mastering Learning Units in Sixth-Grade Mathematics

leacher

4 1 2 3

NM i Unit Number Unit Title M P NM M P NM M P NM M P

5 at Whole Numbers 5 14 3 1 1 4 15 2 1 10 5

5 2 6 02 Place Jalue and numeration 12 9 1 11 8 0 10 6 2 9 1-- 7 8 6 03 Addition/subtraction of decimals 14 1 1 12 1 0 8 11 0

1 11 0 7 6 6.04 Multiplication of deerrals 9 11 2 8 11 8

11 0 14 2 3 6.05 Division of decimals and review 2 17 3 1 11 2 8

1 8 1 1 6.06 Decimal summary 3 17 2 7 12 1 12 6

9 1 6 6 4 6 07 Addition/subtraction of like fractions i 10 8 1 1 13 0 9

M = Masttri iScata of 904 or batten P = Piss .Broth Of :G't-414.1. NM = Non Mastery 'Stott of lass than 713%) instruction in particular learning units. Table 2. for example. presents data from OBE News, Activities, Red Bank. These data present the number and Resources of students mastering (a score of 90% or better). passing i,70% to 89%). or not mastering (less than 70% the first seven of Charlotte Danielson, of Outcomes Asso- sixteen sixth-grade mathematics units for ciates will be publishing a newsletter four teachers Since classes are formed called The Exchange The newsletter will be heterogeneously and the four teachers use a clearinghouse of practical ideas for edu- the same unit tests. the data can be used to cators implementing outcome-based edu identify those teachers with exceptional cation. Brief articles will describe school skill in teaching certain learning units. and district practices in eumculum For example. careful examination of the instruction. building-level planning learn data will reveal that Teacher 3 has much ing support. information management greater success with Unit 6.01 (Whole communication. and staff development Numbers) than the other three teachers. The Exchangewill appear five times a %ear In effect. Teacher 3 is the expert peda- beginning in January 1988. Further infor- gogue in the district for this particular unit mation may be obtained by writing and could. if supported by a staff devel- Outcomes Associates. PO Box 1046 opment program. share this expertise with Monroe WA 98272 or calling the other teachers. It also turns out that (206) 252-2173 or (206) 743-9000 each teacher is an -expert pedagogue" in at least one of the learning units. By using this information as the basis of a staff The third national conference on outcome- development program. a district can draw based education will be held in Phoenix. upon the best available knowledge in the Arizona, February 4-6 1988. The confer- district and allow teachers the opportunity ence is being sponsored by the Network to share that knowledge with their col- for Outcome-Based Schools and the leagues. Other patterns of success may sur- National School Conference Institute face as data for several years are examined Experts on mastery learning and outcome- together. based education, practitioner sessions. and Summary on-site school visits in the Phoenix area are featured. Over 400 participants from These four activitiesdefining outcomes. 30 states attended last year's conference developing learning units, aligning curricu- For more information. contact the National lum, and managing the curriculumhelp School Conference Institute, 3113 West to organize curriculum in outcome-based education. By attending to curriculum Columbine Dr.. Phoenix Az 85029 or call organization efficiently. it is hoped that (6021438 -0225. districts and schools can move into issues of instructional organization (see Burns. The Far West Laboratory's Rural School 1987) and begin to realize the full potential Assistance Center has funded a project of outcome-based education. involving the School Improvement of References the Arizona Department of Education Burns, R. (1987).Models of instructional three rural Arizona districts, and the ntp organtzation:A casebook on mastery port for Outcome-Based Education pro.i.t learning and outcome-based education. at the Laboratory. The three Arizona Or. Robert Bums is project San Francisco: Far West Laboratory for thus are Liberty Elementary. Show L' director for the Support for EducationalResearchand Unified, and Pine Elementary. The put Outcome-Based Education Development. pose of the project is to examine wak < Project at the Far West Freeman. D.. Kuhs. T. Porter, A.. Floden. rural districts to cooperate in the wr;t:11.: Laboratory. Dr. David Squires is R., Schmidt. W. and Schwille. J. (1983). and sharing of mastery learning unit:, Supervisor for Curriculum and Do textbooks andtestsdefine .1 more information, contact Robert BUM Staff Development in Red Bank national curriculum in elementary FarWest Laboratory at(415) 565-32r Pu:iiic Schools,Red Bank, school mathematics The Elerth-tary Sharon Bolster. Arizona Department New Jersey. School Journal. 83. 501-513. Education at (602) 233.3567 ResearchonOBE: What We Know and Don't Know

Karen M. Evans and lean A. King

Despite the utcome-based education (OBE) r has an intuitive appeal that hooks nationwide people. Simply set the outcomes popularity of Lyou expect students to achieve, then teach and reteach in as 011E, only a many different ways and for as lone as handful it takes until everyone meets them. In its simplest form, the OBE process of studies virtually guarantees every student an provide education. And in this light, what is surprising is not that 42 states are --r--417V11 meaningful involved in some form of outcome- answers based reform (Varnon and King 1993), but rather that they have waited until to questions now to try it. -'11Pnimmoup about Its Despite OBE's appeal, however, 0.-ev research documenting its effects is education suggests the breadth of the effects. fairly rare. An earlier literature review concept. reported that existing evidence was Creating another complication, largely perceptual, anecdotal, and Spady and Marshall (1991) distinguish small scale (Evans and King 1992), among traditional, transitional, and and our recent search for additional transformational approaches to school- published information led to the same wide or districtwide OBE, noting that conclusion. Testimonials, speeChes, the first can operate within an existing and narrative descriptions may be school system, while the last requires inspirational and helpful. but they the creation of a whole new system. provide little solid ground on which to Even more basic is the distinction build a reform movement. between OBE and the setting of high Admittedly, researchers attempting school graduation outcomes. Just to "prove" the effects of outcome- because a state requires its high school based education face various prob- graduates to achieve specific outcomes lems. First. OBE is an umbrella does not mean that schools necessarily concept under which various reform engage in outcome-based education to efforts can be placed. and people who prepare students for graduation assess- ask. "What exactly is outcome-based ments. And finally, a movement that education'!" may receive several purports to develop "complex answers. Block, HIM», and Burns thinkers," "responsible citizens," and ( 1989) include OBE in their concep- "community contributors" faces tual overview of mastery learning. but complex measurement challenges, mastery learning is not the only way to both conceptual and practical implement OBE. The fact that people (Minneapolis Public Schools 1992). who practice open education also Despite these limitations, a small claim to engage in outcome-bused but growing body of OBE research

IIIEMT VtION AL LEADERSHIP The average student in a mastery learning class performed at the 70th percentile, whereas theaverage

%'1;4' student in a control feeriT t 4 class performed at the 50th percentile. does exist Relevant research includes approaches present material in short overall effect of mastery learning is information on classroom-based units, and students take formative impressive when compared with other mastery learning; over 20 years of tests on each unit. educational treatments: "Few educa- evidence from the Outcomes-Driven The meta-analysis indicates that the tional treatments of any sort were Developmental Model in Johnson average student in a mastery learning consistently associated with achieve- City, New York; and studies from class performed at the 70th percentile, ment effects as large as those state-level OBE projects in Utah, whereas the average student in a produced by mastery teaching." Missouri, and Minnesota. contml class performed at the 50th percentile. The authors conclude that The Outcomes-Driven The Effects of Mastery Learning mastery learning does have positive Developmental Model Although OBE does not require effects on student achievement. One current working model of an mastery learning as an exclusive Results were better for social science outcome-based educational program instructional model, many people classes, on locally developed tests, ill at the district level is the Outcomes- consider mastery learning to be an teacher-paced classes, when the Driven Developmental Model (ODDM) integral part of OBE beliefs and prac- required level of performance was begun in 1972 in the Johnson City, tice (Burns 1987, Schleisman and high, and when the control group New York, School District under King 1990, Spady 1982). In a compre- received less feedback. They also note Superintendent Albert Mamary. hensive meta-analysis, Kulik, J. Kulik, that lower-aptitude students enjoyed a The developers of ODDM make and Bangert-Drowns (1990) integrate greater gain than higher-aptitude clear that it is an "empowering, partic- the various findings of the last decade students.' The most consistently nega- ipatory, and noncoercive" change (( iuskey and Gates 1985, J. Kulik et tive effect was on course completion. process (Alessi et al. 1991). Johnson al. 1979, Slavin 1987) and P.',-;z1cess Students in mastery learning classes City's ODDM, using an instructional ak, inconsistencies about the effects of completed fewer courses than students model similar to Learning for Masteryll. mastery learning. They examine 108 in control classes. has been so successful it is the only studies on Bloom's Learning for Although the authors argue that the total school curriculum model vali- Mastery and Keller's Personalized positive effects are not as great us dated by the National Diffusion System of Instruction.' Both Bloom predicts, they do state that the Network (Vickery 1990). Adding to its

j MARCH 1994is Outcome-Based Education Is Not Mastery Learning

Robert E. Slavin

ne of the questions often raised My review was a response to credibility is the fact that Johnson City in the debate over outcome-based Bloom's assertion that mastery is a lower-middle-class community 0education (OBE) is whetherany learning could produce gains of two with few professional citizens and the research supports this approach. To standard deviations (1984). He second highest poverty rate of 10 my knowledge, no studies directly based his claim on brief laboratory urban districts in its county. Over 20 compare students in OBE classes or studies in which students who did percent of its school population quali- schools to students in similar control not master the material on the first fies for free or reduced-price lunch, schools. This being the case, advo- test received substantial additional and it has a sizable Asian immigrant cates on both sides of the debate time, one-to-one tutoring, or both. I population with limited English profi- have attempted to make inferences concluded that in more realistic ciency. (See "On Creating an Envi- about OBE from other areas of settings, mastery learning had far ronment Where All Students Learn: A research. less impressive results. Group-based Conversation with Al Mamary," p. 24). In particular, opponents of OBE mastery learning often produced When Johnson City began its have often cited my 1987 review of modest increases in performance on program in 1972, it ranked 14th out of research on group-based mastery tests closely tied to the material 14 districts in its county on academic learning as evidence that OBE is being taught, but achievement on achievement as measured on standard- ineffective (Slavin 1987). Such a broader-based measures did rr.)t ized tests. Approximately 45 to 50 comparison is inappropriate. The improve. percent of its students scored at or research I reviewed involved strate- I hope it is clear that my review of above grade level in reading and math gies in which teachers teach a series group-based mastery learning had in grades 1 through 8. By 1977, the of lessons and then give a formative nothing to do with OBE. In its percentages rose to about 70 percent, test. Students who score below a broadest definition I find it hard to and by 1984 ranged between 80 and pre-established mastery criterion oppose the concept of OBE; who 90 percent. (say, 80 percent correct) then receive would argue that educational To have a consistent measure for a few hours of corrective instruction, programming should not be based tracking student progress, in 1984 the while others do enrichment activi- on some idea of what we want district chose to identify the number of ties. A second summative test is then students to know or be able to do? students whose scores indicated given, and the cycle may be repeated On the other hand, it is legitimate to achievement six months or more if many students still score below debate what kinds of outcomes we above grade level on the California the ma 'cry criterion. want, how they will be measured, Achievement Tests (CATs) in reading and math. They found that in 1976, 44 percent of all students had performed participating in the exams). In 1986, convincing evidence of Johnson City's at six months or more above grade 77 percent of Johnson City students success is the 100 percent enrollment, level in reading, and 53 percent had received a Regents diploma, compared in 1991-92, of students in 9th grade done so in math. By 1984 these with 43 percent statewide and 59 algebra. figures had increased to 75 percent in percent countywide. reading and 79 percent in math. In 1988, the New York Board of Lessons from States Other indicators of success in Regents instituted more rigorous At the state level, documentation of Johnson City include performance on requirements for a Regents diploma. the effects of OBE is difficult to find, the New York State Regents exams In 1989, Johnson City still outper- and what is available is largely percep- and attainment of the Regents formed the state and county, with 55 tual. Nevertheless, data collected in diploma. In 1989, for example, percent of its students receiving the Utah, Missouri, and Minnesota Johnson City students, on every exam, diploma, compared with 33 percent provide useful insights. always surpassed the state perfor- statewide and 47 percent countywide. State evaluators in Utah conducted Wmance and either equaled or surpassed This placed Johnson City in the top 10 more than 300 interviews with board the county performance (with 70 percent of schools statewide in members, administrators, teachers, percent of Johnson City students percentage of students receiving support staff, and students regarding participating, 58 percent in the county, Regents diplomas. These figures progress toward implementation. They and 40 percent of students statewide aside, however, perhaps the most administered three questionnaires (at

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP 111 and what happens if students don't achieve them. More OBE implementation takes In the absence of research, OBE place in elementary schools than in proposals being made by various secondary schools, and in smaller states and districts must be evalu- districts than in larger districts. ated on their details. Certainly, the Although the evidence is limited, whole community should decide districts with more complete imple- what schools or students should be mentation of OBE also appear to held accountable for. Without the demonstrate higher student achieve- details of these proposals, I don't ment gains (Applegate 1992). have a position on any of them, but Districts' sing ODDM seem to be I do know that my mastery learning experiencing the most successful review has nothing to do with the implementations. issue one way or the other. Another state effort noted by OBE proponents is Missouri's Statewide References Project for Improving Student Bloom, B. S. (1984). "The Search for Achievement (Cohen and Hyman Methods of Group Instruction As 1991, Guskey and Block 1991). t Effective As One-to-One Tutoring." Educational Leadership 41, 8: 4-17. This project, called the Instructional Slavin, R. E.(1987). "Mastery Learning Management System, involves the C joAvoy H gV:Wha 8.evivr ere Reconsidered." Review of Educa- following components: (1) a statewide tional Research 57: 175-213. curriculum; (2) three state-endorsed addition, 70 to 90 percent now rank in instructional programs (mastery the top two quintiles, with 50 to 75 learning, outcome-based education, Robert E.Slavin isDirector, Elemen- percent in the highest (Guskey and tarySchool Program, Center for and cooperative learning); and (3) a Block 1991). Research onEffective Schooling for criterion test, the Missouri Mastery _In Minnesota, the Department of Disadvantaged Students, Johns Achievement Test (MMAT) that Education's Office of Educational Hopkins University, 3505N. Charles precisely measures the curriculum's Leadership worked in 10 project sites St., Baltimore, MD 21218-2498. outcomes. across the state from 1989 through Beginning in 1986-87, scores on the 1991 to determine tie effectiveness of mastery test have significantly risen an outcome-based system of education statewide each year in nearly every in improving student learning the district, school, and individual subject area. At the same time, scores (Minnesota Department of Education staff levels) about attitudes, opinions, have increased on norm-referenced 1990, Center for Applied Research beliefs, and perceived effects, and also tests, including the Iowa Tests of and Educational Improvement 1991, asked for student achievement data. Basic Skills for grades 2 through 8 and Bosma and King 1992). Research Thirty-four districts, 437 schools, and the Test of Achievement and Profi- activities, including ir.terviews with more than 7,400 teachers returned ciency for grades 9 and 10. students. teachers, administrators, and questionnaires, and 11 districts One example of the Missouri parents, sought to document the submitted student achievement data. project's success is an "Academic perceived effects of the changes made, The evaluators reached the following Achievement Demonstration Site," the that is, to provide initial evidence conclusions: Thorpe Gordon Elementary School in about what was happening to students Implementation of OBE generally Jefferson City. In 1987, approximately as a result of the transformational requires a restructuring of the entire 40 to 60 percent of the students in this OBE approaches being implemented educational system and consequently inner-city school ranked in the bottom (King et al. 1992). takes a significant period of time. two quintiles in language arts, mathe- The results across 37 schools More OBE implementation takes matics, and science on the MMAT. By involved during 1990-1991 included place in districts that have adopted 1989, 10 percent or less were in the three perceived effects on student ODDM as a model than in other bottom two quintiles, with few learning. Forty-nine percent of the districts, students placing in the lowest one. In respondents reported more and better

MARCH1994 3 Mastery Learning in Chicago: Not an OBE Faikire

Beau Fly Jones

Widely circulated information the program was officially disman- says OBE failed in Chicago. As tled as she was leaving. Individual top." "Wefeel the higher students a program coordinator in the schools continued to use the mate- won t be challenged enough.") Chicago Public Schools at that rials for years, and some schools time, I would like to clarify several still use revised versions of them OBE's Possibilities points. First, we did not implement under a different name. What, then, can we conclude about OBE. Our program, Chicago Fourth, the major substantive OBE as a restructuring effort to date? Mastery Learning Reading, was an charges against the program were Acknowledging the paucity of hard adaptation of Benjamin Bloom's that the early grade materials data, we find at least three themes. mastery learning theory, what focused too heavily on phonics First, the data from research on Bloom and others would later call and that the materials for all grades mastery learning; Johnson City, New enhanced mastery learning. At all did not involve children sufficiently York; Missouri; and Utah suggest that grade levels, instructional content in real literature. Both are true, but mastery learning and its ODDM addressed different learning styles at the time we implemented the implementations are effective at the through alternative modes of program, the stories available in classroom and building levels. presentation; examples were both the program were an improvement Second, experiences in Johnson City visual and verbal; and students over the "literature" in the basal and Utah indicate that the Outcomes- were encouraged to apply their textbooks being used. Driven Developmental Model can concepts and skills to new mate- If I could do it over again, I work and is readily adapted into tradi- rials. The material for grades 5 would teach skills and strategies in tional systems. Third, the mastery through 8 contained embedded the context of specific projects and learning and Minnesota data document learning strategy prompts, which units that would be interdisci- that OBE appears to benefit low- were gradually eliminated over the plinary, learning-centered, and achieving students while having ques- course of a unit. steeped in real literature. But as I tionable effects on high-achieving Second, test scores did not drop look back on what we created, the students (Evans and King, in press). during this program. Students in the research behind our program was These three points speak cogently to early primary grades maintained solid, students did develop better the emerging possibilities of OBE the traditional seven-month gain in reading skills, and for many, the within the traditional system. their scores, and students in the program provided opportunities to However, whether transformational upper grades had an average gain be successful learners. OBE can effect similar changes of 12 months in their scores for remains to be seen. 1983 and 1984. What the dataor lack of it Beau Fly loner is Senior Researcher, Third, the program was not aban- North Central Regional Educational suggest is the compelling need for doned. Mandated by Ruth Love Laboratory, 1900 Spring Rd., Suite more research. But not just any when she became superintendent, 300, Oak Brook, IL 60521-1480. research will do. First, we must be clear what we mean by OBE. Second, we must determine what it is we want to do well in schools and how that can learning. ("I've gotten a lot more out Manyparents expressed a sense that be best documented. For example, are of class than the last few years." OBE "works for the average and we committed to "authentic" learning, "There's been a tremendous increase unmotivated learner," both because with measures that tap such achieve- in student learning." "We have set these students are allowed sufficient ment (Newmann and Archbald 1992). higher expectations, and students are time and opportunities to succeed and or will we settle for improvements on achieving more.") Forty-three percent because some become part of regular standardized tests? reported increased student involve- instruction for the first time. But many In our work with OBE and its ment in learning. ("Kids really take a respondents reported negative percep- increasing numbers of dedicated stake in learning and are more respon- tions for students who have succeeded educators, we have become convinced sible." "I'm pushing myself more.") in the traditional system. ("Admittedly that traditional studies are simply not Thirty-five percent reported different we have picked up some we would've rich enough to portray the changes effects for different student types. lost. but we are losing some at the that an OBE system may inspire. And

16EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP Analysis." Review of Educational Research 60, 2: 265-299. Kulik, J. A., C. C. Kulik, and P. A. Cohen. (1979). "A Meta-Analysis of Outcome Studies of Keller's Personalized System of Instruction." American Psychologist 34: 307-318. Minneapolis Public Schools. (October 1992). "Exit and Supportive Outcomes." Minneapolis, Minn. Minnesota Department of Education. (1990). Transforming Education: The Minnesota Plan. St. Paul: Minnesota Department of Education, Office of Educational Leadership. O*Hch/MAGe hoekehon Newmann, F. M., and D. A. Archbald. for Educational Research and (1992). "The Nature of Authentic so, we challenge researchers to devise Academic Achievement." In Toward a innovative evaluation methodologies Development. Center for Applied Research and Educa- New Science of Educational Testing and that truly capture the excitement of tional Improvement. (January 1991). Assessment, edited by H. Berlak, F. M. real and lasting change in schools. Office of Educational Leadership, Vol.): Newmann, E. Adams, D. A. Archbald. Phase 1 Evaluation Report. T. Burgess, J. Raven, and R. A. 'The authors of the meta-analysis used Minneapolis: College of Education, Romberg. Albany: State University of effect size to compare results on the various University of Minnesota. New York Press. studies examined. Effect size is defined Cohen. S. A., and J. S. Hyman. (1991). Schleisman, K. E., and J. A. King. (1990). as the difference between the mean scores "Can Fantasies Become Facts?" Educa- "Making Sense of Outcome-Based of the experimental and control groups tional Measurement: Issues and Practice Education: What Is It and Where Did It divided by the standard deviation of the 10, 1: 20-33. Come From?" (Research Report No. 7). control group. The overall finding for Evans, K. M., and J. A. King. (1992). Minneapolis: Center for Applied the meta-analysis was an effect size of "The Outcomes of Outcome-Based Research and Educational Improvement. 0.52 standard deviations, with a range of Education: Research and Implications." University of Minnesota. 1.58-0.22. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting Slavin, R. E. (1987). "Mastery Learning 'The effect sizes were 0.6 for lower-apti- of the American Educational Research Reconsidered." Review of Educational tude students and 0.4 for higher-aptitude Association. San Francisco, Calif. Research 57, 2: 175-213. Spady, W. G. (1982). "Outcome-Based students. Evans, K. M., and J. A. King. (In press). "Outcome-Based and Gifted Education: Instructional Management: A Sociolog- ical Perspective." The Australian Journal References Can We Assume Continued Support?" of Education 26, 2: 123-143. Alessi, F. V., L. Rowe, and A. Mamary. Roeper Review. Spady, W. G., and K. J. Marshall. (1991). (1991). "The Outcomes-Driven Develop- Guskey, T. R., and J. H. Block. (1991). "Transformational Outcome-Based mental Model: A Program for Compre- "The Missouri Miracle: A Success Story Educational Curriculum Restructuring." hensive School Improvement." Johnson about Statewide Collaboration to Educational Researcher 6, 2: 9-15. City, N.Y.: Johnson City Central School Improve Student Learning." Outcomes Varnon, C. J., and R. L. King. (1993). "A District. 10, 2: 28-43. Tidal Wave of Change-OBE in the Applegate, T. (1992). "Evaluation of OBE Guskey, T. R., and S. L. Gates. (1985). "A USA." Outcomes 12, 1: 16-19. in Utah: Executive Summary." Salt Lake Synthesis of Research of Group-Based Vickery, T. R. (1990). "ODDM: A Work- City, Utah. Mastery Learning Programs." Paper able Model for Total School Improve- Block, J. H., H. E. Efthim, and R. B. Burns. presented at the Annual Meeting of the ment." Educational Leadership 47, 7: (1989). Building Effective Mastery American Educational Research Associ- 67-60. Learning Schools. New York: Longman. ation, Chicago (ERIC Document Repro- Bosma, J., and J. A. King. (1992). Office of duction Service No. ED 262 088). Educational Leadership Phase II Evalu- King, J. A...1. Bosnia, and J. Binko. (1992). ation Report. Minneapolis: Center for "After Two Years: A Study of Educa- Karen M. Evans is a doctoral candidate Applied Research and Educational tional Transformation in Ten Minnesota in educational policy at the University Improvement, College of Education, Sites." Paper presented at the Annual of Minnesota and Jean A. King is an University of Minnesota. Meeting of the American Educational Associate Professor of Educational Burns, R. (1987). Models of Instructional Research Association, San Francisco. Policy and Administration, University of Organization: A Casebook on Mastery Kulik, C. C., J. A. Kulik, and R. L. Minnesota, 105 Burton Hall, 178 Pitts- Learning and Outcome-Based Educa- Bangert-Drowns. (1990). "Effectiveness bury Drive, S. E., Minneapolis, MN tion. San Francisco: Far West Laboratory of Mastery Learning Programs: A Meta- 55455-7496.

30 MARCH1994 The Challenge of Outcome-Based Education

Aiming for New Outcomes: The Promise and The Reality

John O'Neil

Besieged by critics, just two years ago, the Since then, however, the OBE band- rhetoric supporting a wagon has stalled. In Pennsylvania, supporters of outcome- massive American shift the state was forced to curtail its ambi- based education are to an education system tious OBE plan in the wake of fierce organized around student opposition, much of it mobilized by struggling to confront outcomes was cresting. organized religious conservative the implications of From Congress to the groups. Among their criticisms, oppo- State House, politicians and nents claimed that the state's proposed their philosophy. educators advocated higher outcomes watered down academics in standards for student learning. favor of ill-defined values and process One expert after another opined that skills. Similar charges were lobbed consensus was needed on what against OBE plans in other states, and students "should know and be able to state officials in Minnesota, Ohio, do" at the culmination of their K-12 Iowa, and Virginia have been forced to experience. Then, the thinking went, revise, delay, or drop their efforts. schools would refocus their programs In the face of the opposition, many to help students attain these desired OBE enthusiasts are retrenching, ntml14-a outcomes. Ultimately, students would pondering how an idea that, on its ...z.":47.11tC4 earn a diploma not by merely sitting face, appears so sensible, proved to he through a series of required courses so controversial. "I think OBE is they would have to demonstrate their largely done for as a saleable public proficiency in these common term," a former Pennsylvania official outcomes. "Outcome-based educa- who played a key role in the state's tion" (OBE) was the label loosely OBE plan says darkly. "Now, nobody applied to this results-oriented can use the 0-word," jokes Bob .,.- thinking. Marzano, senior program director at The talk sparked a spate of activity. the Mid-continent Regional Education Acting on the impetus provided by Laboratory (McREL). national education goals, a national process was launched to describe What Is OBE, Anyway? outcomes in the major subject areas. One reason OBE has sparked differ- State after state undertook to craft ences of opinion is that many common learner outcomes, or oo peopleeven within the camps of require districts to do so. One state, proponents and opponentsdefine the Pennsylvania, pledged to phase out the term differently.

0)04., Koh/IMAGE Prco.cqrs traditional Carnegie unit, saying that At one level, outcome -based educa- within several years the state's high tion is the simple principle that deci- school graduates would have to sions about curriculum and instruction demonstrate attainment of outcomes, should be driven by the outcomes not merely accrue the necessary clock we'd like children to display at the hours in required courses. If put into end of their educational experiences. practice, the changes proposed in "It's a simi,:e matter of making sure Pennsylvania and elsewhere would that you're clear on what teaching have marked a dramatic shift in the should accomplish ,.. and adjusting way schools do business. your teaching and assessing as 40 IIEDUCATION AL LEADERSHIP Parents and educators familiar with a specific version of outcome-based education often equate all OBE with the model they've heard most about. But the models differ. The Johnson City, New York, public schools, for example, have gained a national repu- tation for their outcome-based education program. The Outcomes-Driven Developmental Model, as they refer to their model, has contributed to impressive gains in student achievement of desired outcomes over the past two decades (See "On Creating an Envi- ronment Whet e All Students Learn: A Conversation with Al Mamary," p. 24). Another highly visible model accountable for of outcome-based education is that Many OBE enthusiasts are demonstrating that espoused by Bill Spady and the High students have Success Network (See "Choosing retrenching, pondering how mastered important Outcomes of Significance," p. 18). outcomes (so-called The different interpretations of an idea that, on its face, "outputs") not for outcome-based education help explain their per-pupil ratio or why, even among those who support appears so sensible, proved the number of books an outcomes-driven education system, in the school library sharp divisions persist over what to be so controversial. (so-called "inputs"). it would look like. For example, Both the outcome- business leaders and policymakers necessary to accomplish what you set based philosonhy and the notion that appear to strongly support the idea out to accomplish," says Grant Wiggins, schools should have more autonomy of outcome-based accountability director of programs for the Center on (site-based management) have been systems. But their conception of Learning, Assessment. and School adopted as the new conventional desirable learning outcomes appears Structure. "Viewed that way, nobody wisdom guiding accountability, to be very different from that offered in their right mind would have objec- despite the lack of compelling by educators. tions to it." In this sense, outcome- research evidence supporting either The very nature of outcome-based based education is a process, and one reform, points out Thomas Guskey, educatioa forces one to address could use it to come up with schools professor of education policy studies inherently controversial issues. "The as unlike one another as Summerhill at the University of Kentucky. Policy questions ultimately get down to the or one E.D. Hirsch dreamed up. wonks love the crystal clear logic of fundamentalswhat's worth knowing At another level, policymakers OBE and Site-Based Managementat and what's the purpose of schooling," increasingly talk about creating least on paper. "Outcome-based says Jay McTighe, an observer of the outcome-driven education "systems" education gives them the 'what' and OBE movement who directs the that would redefine traditional site-based management gives them the Maryland Assessment Consortium. approaches to accountability. In policy- 'who" in their accountability system, "Outcome-based education gets to ese this means that schools should be Guskey says. 41 the heart of the matter." MARCH1994 Current Conditions In addition, Proponents of OBE suggest that an OBE can bring outcome-based education system some needed /4 would help to address some of the focus to the problematic conditions confronting way schools r contemporary schools. are organized. Numerous experts, for example, Currently, state believe that the currently expressed and district outcomes for student learning are regulations neither sufficiently rigorous nor appro- including grad- priate for the requirements of students' uation require- adult lives. One national study after ments, another has shown that graduates of competency U.S. schools are able to demonstrate tests, textbook very basic levels of skill and knowl- adoption poli- edge, but that they lack higher-order cies, local thinking skills. Put simply, many curriculum students can (and do) make it through guides, special the education system without learning mandates to needed skills and knowledge, even teach about AIDS or gun safety should form the heart of an OBE though they've earned the requisite combine in a patchwork of diffuse and planand no aspect of OBE has number of Carnegie units and passed oftentimes contradictory signals to proven quite so contentious. Oppo- minimum competency exams and which teachers must attend as they nents of OBE have consistently classroom tests. Under OBE, students plan instruction. In the system envi- charged that traditional academic would be required to demonstrate sioned by OBE enthusiasts, the content is omitted or buried in a these necessary outcomes before grad- desired learner outcomes become the morass of pedagogic claptrap in the euation. Just as pilots are required to foundation upon which decisions OBE plans that have emerged to date. demonstrate their facility at flying an about curriculum, instruction, assess- For example, a draft plan in aircraft (not merely sit through the ment, staff development, and so on are Virginia, since shelved, contained six required instruction), students would based. Presumably, such a system major areas of student outcomes: envi- be pushed to display the outcomes would be better aligned and focused ronmental stewardship, personal well- society holds important. and, thus, more efficient than the being and accomplishment, interper- This raises the related equity issue. system now operating. sonal relationships, lifelong learning, The futures of many students are cultural and creative endeavors, work compromised because the outcomes Mal Outcomes? and economic well-being, and local held for them are low or unclear. As As promising an approach as OBE and global civic participation. they progress through school, such may be, even proponents have strug- According to the draft, a student students are frequently tracked into low- gled to explain how schools can outcome for personal well-being and level courses where they are not held successfully act upon the implications accomplishment was "a responsible responsible for the outcomes necessary of their philosophy. Few schools individual who has a good sense of his for success after graduation. As long as appear to have actually reorganized or her abilities and needs, and uses the credentialing system is based on their curriculum and overhauled their that knowledge consistently to make seat time, one student may earn a assessment and reporting schemes to choices likely to lead to a healthy, diploma by taking advanced placement reflect n; v, higher outcomes. More productive, and fulfilling life." A history and calculus, while another commonly, schools and districts worthy aim, to be sure, but critics makes it through the system taking draft outcomes based on the present convinced the general public that such watered-down academic fare. Put curriculum or write ambitious and outcomes would lead to mae "touchy- another way, some studentsand some far-reaching new outcomes while feely" exercises and less history and schoolsare held to high standards, changing the curriculum very little. math in the schools. while many others are not. According The reason seems to be that schools, Supporters of OBE find themselves to the OBE philosophy, all students will districts, and states that have attempted in a precarious position. Many of them be held responsible for attaining to use OBE philosophy very quickly believe strongly that an educated grad- 4110 common outcomes. And schools will find themselves struggling with some uate is not just someone who has be responsible for altering present difficult challenges. absorbed a set of discrete experiences conditions to prepare them to do it. The first is deciding what outcomes in the traditional academic d()mains.

EDUCATIONALLkADENSHIP 4L.L. 111 Parents and educators familiar witha specific Good outcomes plinary outcomes that some OBE have to have three plans envision. version of outcome-based elements: the Many experts say that performance- content knowledge, based assessmentsnot standardized, education oftenequate the competence multiple-choice testsare necessary (what the student to measure student attainment of all OBE with the model isdoing),arid the outcomes. "Many outcomes demand setting (under a type of assessment that is more they've heardmost about. what conditions performance-oriented" because melt the student is current tests fail to measure the appli- performing), says cations of knowledge described in The OBE movement "has taken Kit Marshall, associate director and new outcomes, says Mc Tighe. shape around the idea that the educa- co-founder of the High Success David Hornbeck, a former state tional experience is too fragmented, Network, Inc. Content isessential. school superintendent in Maryland and that important outcomes not easily she says: "you can't demonstrate who has advised states on outcome- pegged to typical subject area divi- anything without the basics." But the based systems, believes the field is sions and pedagogical approaches field has fallen short in defining what making progress on designing assess- are falling through the cracks," says a good outcome is, she says. "Many ments that measure complex tasks. Wiggins. But architects of OBE plans so-called outcomes are really more "We can measure much higher levels find it extraordinarily difficult to like goals, and they aren't assessable of knowledge and skills thanwe try to weave the academic content into the as such," says Marshall. "We have not measure routinely now," he says, broad outcomes. "If you say that clearly defined in a large enoughsense citing improvements in the assessment the purpose of school is not control what an outcome is, or what a demon- of student writing. But most experts over the disciplines, but control over stration of an outcome looks like. The agree that designing assessments these more generic capacities," then field has not done that well enough." linked to high-level and broadly there is a danger that traditional rigor The drafting of common outcomes written outcomes present enormous will be diminished, says Wiggins. for an OBE system requiresenormous technical challenges. "Because if you now say that the time and care. Even then, outcomes One reason assessment is so critical, purpose of a literature program, will appear too vague for some or of course, is that OBE philosophy for example, is to teach people to too specific for others. If outcomes suggests that students shoulddemon- communicate effectively, you are are too "global," Mc Tighe notes. stratetheir attainment of outcomes now saying, implicitly to some critics ask "Where's the beef?" But before receiving a diploma, a notion people, that it doesn't matter if you if a state specifies dozens or hundreds some experts referred to as "perfor- read Judy Blume or Shakespeare to of outcomes, it is attacked for mance-based graduation." But even accomplish that end." "prescribing the curriculum" and OBE proponents suggest moving very OBE advocates have struggled treading on local initiative. cautiously in considering whether to mightily with the question of whether deny students a diploma based on their one set of outcomes will fit the needs Now to Assess failure to demonstrate their profi- of all students; those who willgo on A second major challenge facingany ciency on the assessments currently to Harvard as well as those who will move to an outcome-based system is available. On certain outcomes, it's clerk at K-Mart. One option would be redesigning student assessment and probably wise to give students feed- to craft outcomes based on the kind of reporting programs. Since OBE back on their performance. but not to curriculum taken by students in the requires students to demonstrate their deny advancement or a diploma to advanced college-prep trackoutcomes knowledge and skills, the assessments students who fail, suggests Marzano. derived from physics, U.S. history, used to evaluate their performances Dubious outcomes and the prospect and so onand push more students become critically important. that assessment of those outcomes to attain such outcomes. But the more But are the student assessments would be used in a high-stakes fashion common approach taken by OBE currently available up to the task? fueled the criticisms about OBE in planners has been to frame outcomes Although assessment experts know states such as Pennsylvania. Butnot that describe students as "effective how to measure basic levels of skill holding students accountable to communicators" or "problem-solvers." and knowledge, they have lessproven outcomes carries consequences, too. Parents of high-achieving students, experience measuring higher-order The Kentucky accountability system in particular, fear that such nebulous outcomes within the subject area measures schools on their ability to outcomes will result in less academic domains and almost no track record help students to attain state-defined rigor in their children's program. with the transformational, cross- disci- learner outcomes. Schools are held

4,3 NIARLH 1994 accountable (and can be taken over by we're expanding students' options, not outcomes, aligning assessment the state if they show insufficient limiting them." programs with those outcomes, and improvement), but students are not, Because drafting new outcomes and compiling student assessment data with says Guskey of the University of developing new assessments linked to other indicators of school performance Kentucky (See "What You Assess them are such difficult tasks, they as part of the accountability system. May Not Be What You Get," p. 51). In have drawn more attention than the Until (and unless) performance-based fact. the state-required assessment of question of what can be done to build assessments shore up their technical 12th graders is administered during schools' capacity to help students qualities, or the outcomes are more the spring of their senior year, and is attain new outcomes, believes John clearly defined, high-stakes uses are not connected with graduation require- Champlin, executive director of the likely to be frowned upon. ments, "so students can just blow it National Center for Outcomes-Based A third trend is more systematic off' without consequences, says Education and the former superinten- attempts to communicate with the Guskey. dent in Johnson City, New York public what outcome-based education "Outcomes are what we want, but is about. Educators substantially Building School Capacity what we have to do is to change the underestimated the d gree of public A third major challenge facing those capacity of schools" to help students confusion and disagreement with OBE wishing to move to an OBE system attain them. States need to place as in several of the states that attempted involves building the capacity of much attention on the capacity-building to launch programs. "There has to be schools to make the changes necessary side of outcome-based systems as on an awful lot of attention to communi- for students to master required the accountability side, he says. cating in simple terms," says James outcomes. On paper, OBE suggests Cooper, dean of the Curry School of that each school's curriculum and Future Directions Education at the University of instruction would be re-organized to Although it's impossible to predict Virginia. Virginia's OBE plan support agreed-upon student precisely what the future of outcome- foundered, he says, in part because outcomes. In reality, many practices based education is, there are several opponents convinced the middle and traditionsmandatory standard- likely trends. ground of citizens that OBE (as ized testing programs and college OBE plans will probably rely more defined in the state's proposed admissions requirements, for heavily on outcomes defined in tradi- "common core" of learning outcomes) examplecombine to create an inertia tional subject areas, rather than the would mean lower academic stan- preventing local schools from "transformational" outcomes that dards. "The vagueness [of the plan] changing very substantively in cross the disciplines. "The starting was a real political problem," says response to the precepts of OBE. This point and the emphasis should be Cooper. State officials, "try as they is true of other reforms besides OBE, on he academic disciplines," says might, could not say simply and notes Wiggins: faced with the Hot nbeck. This is the model of the clearly enough what this common core prospects of a major new reform. national standards for content and was. Then the opposition defined it in educators often "retitle what they are student performance, which are being their terms as 'mushy-headed." already inclined to do." crafted in all of the major disciplines It may be that the public believes For example, many of the schools and which will be published over that the present performance of claiming to practice OBE appear to the next year or two (mathematics schools does not warrant the restruc- offer the same set of courses as before, standards have already been written). turing that would result from a true even though they've drafted new States that have defined outcomes application of OBE's precepts. outcomes. A real tension exists within the subject areas, as in "People are really not that dissatisfied between the curriculum educators Kentucky, for example, have not with what's going on" in schools, might wish to implement and the one encountered the same degree of Cooper believes. "People are inter- that responds to current conditions and opposition as states that attempted to ested in school improvement, but not constraints. For example, "Right now, create cross-disciplinary outcomes. necessarily in break-the-mold schools given our transitional education Another likely trend is that states or break-the-mold education." As a system, we've got to respect and will move slowly on attaching high result, "major sweeping changes are respond to the fact that algebra is still stakes to outcome-based education exceedingly difficult," and modest, a door to college," says Marshall. "So plans. Few states, for example, are incremental changes seem the only Oregardless of whether or not someone likely to abolish the Carnegie unit as plausible route. thinks that you'll ever use algebra, the basis for graduation, as Pennsyl- we've got to see to it that we're vania plans to do. Instead, bet on more John O'Neil is Contributing Editor to holding ourselves accountable, that states attempting to define learner Educational Leadership.

lilEDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP 4 .1 OUTCOME -BASED EDUCATION The OBE Attack When key sociologist-educratsoncile the positions held by the two op-supported OBE mastery learning with invite their opposition toposing sides. grants to develop and implement it dialogue over so-called "edu- Alarm bells should be going off across nationwide. cational controversies," you can be surethe nation. There can be no compromise Why? Because the bottom line, as something is not quite right. Recently, on this issue. As outrageous as the out-usual, is global profits and global con- according to an article in the May 17thcomes are (to quote no less an educationtrol for the globalists of the planned new issue of theDenver Post,"some of the"authority" than Al Shanker, presidentworld order. Because to those imbued most outspoken national opponents andof the radical American Federation ofwith the current collectivist/humanist/ proponents of outcome- behavioristzeitgeistthere is based education have already no more effective way to met informally in Denver to "train" workers than using identify common concerns." mastery learning /programed The article described a recent learning, which is based on meeting involving Dr. Will- the Russian psychologist iam Spady, an education con- Ivan Pavlov's animal experi- sultant widely recognized as mentation and the late Har- the high priest of outcome- vard Professor B.F. Skinner's based education (OBE), the behavior modification tech- controversial philosophy that niques. That is, it is based on has stirred fierce battles in the operant conditioning, school districts and state stimulus-response techniques houses nationwide. The Post used in rat, dog and pigeon article continued: training laboratories: "Sit, Fido, sit."; Fido sits "Good Spady and members of dog, Fido." Pop a biscuit into his High Success Networic Fido's mouth and move on to consulting firm met earlier the next skill. If Fido doesn't this month in Denver with sit, he may be punished with Bob Simonds, national a shock before being re- president of Citizens fix: cycled through the exercise Excellence in Education, a again (and again) until he ex- traditionalist Christian or- hibits the desired 'behavior. ganization. Also present were repre- "Stimulus, Response" sentatives of Focus on the The computer, with Its potential for immediate reinforce- This is the kind of condi- Family, a national reli- ment, Is a valuable tool In SkInnerlan/OSE programs tioning that is outlined in the gious group based in Colo- OBE manual entitledEffec- rado Springs, and the Independence Teachers union, in his widely circulatedtive Schooling Practices: A Research Institute, a conservative think tank newspaper column, "Outrageous Out- Synthesis, 1990 Update.Developed and from Golden. comes," of September 12, 1993), out-published by the Northwest Regional comes in the values domain whichEducational Laboratory in Portlaud. Or- No Compromise Possible have been bad for as long as this authoregon, this document is in use in hun- According to thePost,"Spady sayscan recall can always be changed todreds of schools. Under its section he's willing to talk about OBE 'choice,' suit the whims or expediencies of theentitled "Incentives and Rewards," which would put stress on letting par-moment. As is about to happen if Effective Schooling Practicesstates the ents in their own communities decide on Spady, Simonds, et al. come to some following: the type of outcomes they want."sort of a "compromise" on OBE. What Simonds is quoted as being{ "interestedthe social engineers willnotallow to a. Excellence is defined by ob- in talking about 'enhanced OBE,' whichbe compromised, however, is the mas- jective standards. not by peer com- is content-based strong on math, sci-tery learning/OBE method to which parison. Systems are set up in the ence, English, but not cencerned withUNESCO and the U.S. Department of classroom for frequent and consis- 'attitudes, values.'" Amy Stephens, rep-Education have been committed for at tent rewards to students for aca- resenting lames Dobson's Focus on theleast 25 years. Education Secretaries demic achievement and excellent Family, wisely reserved judgment onTerre! Bell, William Bennett, Lamar behavior. what, if any, steps could be taken to rec-Alexander, and Richard Riley have all b. Rewards are appropriate to the

THE NEW AMERICAN / AUGUST 9. 1994 31 Reprinted by permission of The Now *widow Magazine, August II, 1994

4i developmental level of students for monitoring and reinforcing behavior relatively poorly educated labor. and may include symbolic, token, "on a proper schedule." What may be crucial, they say, is It tangible, or activity rewards. A major stumbling block to efficient the dependability of a labor force it c. All students know about the implementation of Skinnerian-based and how well it can be managed a rewards and what they need to do mastery learning/OBE programs in the and trained not its general edu- n to get them. Rewards are chosen past has been the practical problem of cational level, although a small because they appeal to students.... expecting a single teacher/trainer effec- cadre of highly educated creative e. Some rewards are presented tively and continuously to monitor and people is essential to innovation 1 publicly; some are immediately reinforce the behaviors of a classroom and growth. presented, while others are delayed full of students. But computer trends are to teach persistence. solving that problem: Falling computer Of particular interest is the fact that f. Students earn some rewards costs, together with accelerating com-Thomas Sticht and William Spady, t individually; others are earned by puter operational speeds and increas-while working at the National Institute groups of students, as in some co- ingly sophisticated software, are making of Education, U.S. Department of Edu- operative learning structures. cation, in 1977, served as consultants to r the Washington, DC public school sys- To those unfamiliar with behaviorist tem when it implemented mastery learn- 1 psychology, the above excerpt may ing. The August 1, 1977Washington sound innocuous. But to those ac- Postquoted DC's Associate Superinten- quainted with B.F. Skinner's behavior- dent of Schools James Guines as saying ist pseudo-science the document is that "the new curriculum was based on easily recognizable as a program for the work in behavioral psychology of conditioning students as if they were Harvard University's B.F. Skinner, animals. Unfortunately, this document who developed teaching machines and is far from being unique; hundreds of even trained pigeons during World War similar training manuals, teacher guides, II to pilot and detonate bombs and tor- curriculum frameworks, etc., produced pedoes." The Washington, DC program with federal and state tax dollars, have has been an enormous disaster by ev- flooded our schools. ery academic, economic, and social What kind of human beings do the measure. government schools wish to produce with these programs? After 12 years of Inner-City Failure systematic "rewards" (and penalties), Instead of meeting with Bill Spady will your children ever do something and Marjorie Ledell to discuss outra- just for the intrinsic value of doing geous outcomes, the conservatives op- something they consider to be neces- posed to OBE should have met with sary, good, or simply beautiful? Or will Skinner's atheist - humanist philosophy officials in the U.S. Department of Edu- there be anyone left willing to take an is the foundation for present-day OBE cation and demanded of them norm-ref- unpopular or controversial stand in erenced test scores of children in the opposition to the prevailing, politicallyautomated monitoring and reinforce-inner cities who have been subjected to correct sentiment if no reward is forth-ment of individualized instruction (readthis dehumanizing, manipulative condi- coming and punishment is certain? Suchconditioning) a classroom reality. Hencetioning.Education Weekreported on training is highly suitable to training athe big push by the education establish-August 28, 1985 that Professor James docile workforce, but hardly conducivement to equip classrooms with comput- Block, very influential in international to preparing children for responsibleers for each child even as the sameand national mastery learning circles, citizenship in a free society. classrooms turn out record numbers ofsaid "he did not know of any major ur- illiterates. ban school system in the United States The Computer Age For the utopian behaviorists, the com-that had not adopted some kind of mas- Ironically, the same modern com-puter is the indispensable instrument fortery-learning program." puter technology that offers such won-attitudinal adjustment and global work- At a 1983 mastery learning confer- derful potential for genuine learning is force training. Thomas Sticht, presidentence in Maine (which this writer at- being hijacked by the educational be-of Applied Behavioral and Cognitivetended), Dr. S. Alan Cohen, associate haviorists to subvert education. Dr.Sciences, Inc. in San Diego, Californiadirector of the Center for Outcomes- Skinner said, "I could make a pigeon aand a member of the U.S. DepartmentBased Education at the University of high achiever by reinforcing it on aof Labor's SCANS (Secretary's Com-San Francisco, said: "In 1976 Block and proper schedule." The computer, withmission on Achieving Necessary Skills),Burns published in AERA [American its built-in, immediate Skinnerian rein-referred to such training when he said inEducational Research Association] re- forcement, in conjunction with indi 1987: search from around the world on mas- vidual education plans and management tery learning. UNESCO committed to information systems (management by Many companies have moved mastery learning all over the world.... objectives, orM130),is the perfect tool operations to places with cheap, We have evaluated data worldwide."

THE NEW AMERICAN / AUGUST 8, 1994 32 4 6 If, as we are being told, masterypart: "The four models of instructionallearning activities, non-graded classes, learning has been successful whereorganization outlined in this casebookand mushy, fuzzy academic objectives implemented, why has there been suchare difficult programs to implement. (outcomes) at the expense of traditional a silence regarding the test scores of in-The practices of the ten schools de-subject matter and basic reading, writ- ner-city children? The Chicago masteryscribed in the case studies are indeeding, and computing skills. This Pennsyl- learning program, which resulted in al-commendable. Yet we do not offer these vania OBE outcome is typical: "All most one-half of 39,500 students in theten case studies as exemplary schools students will make environmentally 1980 freshman class failing to graduate,deserving emulation"(emphasis added).sound decisions in their personal and was just the tip of the iceberg. The press And for good reason: These "commend-civic lives." coverage of the Chicago mastery learn-able" schools have been embarrassing Nowever, parents and conservative lat ing disaster was so devastating to thedebacles. leaders who think they are winning a ly, behaviorists' plans that the media, great victory by getting OBE leaders ate which has been overwhelmingly support-Missing the Main Point like Spady and Ledell to "enhance" lu- ive of OBE schemes, ceased publicizing Why then is the U.S. Department ofOBE and remove objectionable out- to tesults from all the other major urbanEducation recommending the use ofcomes will one day rue their naiveté.* vs- school systems that adopted masteryoutcome-based education when its ownThe OBE educrats will grudgingly con- rn- learning. research suggests that the most well- cede to temporarily change the content on In the meantime, the as long the process, the social engineers wisely method, and the system ng changed the mastery are not affected. on learning label to out- The real desired outcome of the OBE Unfortunately, most of come-based education elitists is a deliberately dumbed-down, OBE opponents see er (OBE). Although "ac. only the obviously ob- ad countability" is one of easily managed and controlled global jectionablecontentand 'ar their pet buzzwords, the workforce of compliant automatons. ignore the more subtly )r- name change was made sinister Skinnerianpro- im precisely to avoid being cess.Some are aware :v- held accountable for that Dr. Skinner was a ial their failed experiments. And their ex-known OBE/mastery learning schoolsmilitant atheist-humanist (a signer of periments have been far from inconse-do not deserve emulation? How manytheHumanist Manifestoand a winner of quential. The Summary of theNational school board members, teachers, or par-the "Humanist of the Year" award) and Evaluation of the Follow Through Find- ents are aware of the research detailingthat he made some astonishingly totali- dfr, ings, 1970-1976,an extensive survey ofthe colossal failures of mastery learn-tarian statements. What they don't seem ra- mastery-learning programs, states: ing? Had they been informed about thisto realize is that his whole philosophy - years ago, OBE indoctrination wouldand epistemology, which undergird ith Gary McDaniels, who designed not have swept the nation as it unfortu- OBE, are profoundly totalitarian in ori- lu- the final Follow Through evalua- nately has. And if parents understoodentation and irredeemably hostile to tf- tion plan for the U.S. Office of the truly insidious nature of OBE, theyChristian morality and individual lib- he Education, characterized Follow would make no Compromises whatso- erty. to Through, which involves 180 co- ever with its devious practitioners and The real desired outcome of the OBE li- operating communities, asthe larg- promoters. elitists is a deliberately dumbed-down, on est and most expensive social What most opponents of OBE haveeasily managed and controlled global les experiment ever launched[empha- focused on are the "outrageous out-workforce of compliant automatons. ial sis added]. comes" typical of so many OBE pro-Any compromise with these totalitarian Cs, grams. For religious parents that usually mind controllers is a bargain with evil ar- That's pretty big. Yet, an examinationmeans those areas of the curriculum and and a sellout of our children's birthright tes of theFollow Through Findingson pro-testing in the "affective domain" thatof freedom. is- grams which used mastery learning in-challenge eternal verities, promote moral CHARLOTTET.ISEROYT dicates that they did not improverelativism, and advance the sexual revo- inner-city children's academic testlution (premarital and extra-marital sex, Like Ski-mer, Dr. Spady sees "religious orthodoxy." "t .ndamentalism," and "conservatism" as it- scores. In fact, they had a devastatinglyhomosexuality, abortion, etc.) while un- the great evils in the world today. In his report for ite negativeimpact. Additional proof of thedermining parental authority, the fam- the Department of Defers". "Ensuring the Success :s- failure of ML/OBE programs can beily, and patriotism. They are upset, and of All students Today fo, Tomorrow's Changing of found in the pro-OBE reportModels ofrightly so, by mandated outcomes like World," Spady writes: "Despite the historical trend toward intellectual enlightenment and cultural plu- nd Instructional Organization: A Casebook this one for Oklahoma students in ralism, there has been a major rise in religious and an on Mastery Learning and Outcome-grades 9-12: "The student will develop political orthodoxy, intolerance, fundamentalism, .e- Based Education(April 1987), com-communication skills, including being and conservativism with which young people will have to be prepared to deal." Those whom Spady 1 piled by Robert Burns, project directorable to talk with one's actual or poten- views as representatives of "orthodxoy, Intoler- te of the Far West Laboratory for Educa- tial partner about sexual behavior." Oth- ance. fundamentalism, and conservativism" would tional Research and Development. Theers are equally troubled by the OBE do well to consider that the "olive branch" being conclusion of theCasebookstates, in"cognitive domain" emphasis on group extended to them Clay conceal a dagger.

194 THE NEW AMERICAN / AUGUST 8. 1994 33 4 Traditionalist Christians and OBE: What's the Problem?

Arnold Burron

Outcr de-based education remains well-being of their children. tians link topics as diverse as the Further, because they believe debate over whole language versus a sore spot with many Traditionalist that their eternal well-being synthetic phonics, multicultural educa- Christians. Some insights into their is more important than any tion, social services on campus, and temporal tranquillity, they site-based management to OBE. For position may suggest options for will relentlessly oppose any example, the lack of structure in the addressing potential conflicts. attempts to deprecate their whole language philosophy appears to concerns about what they see be consistent with what they see as ny attempt to speak for Chris- as the public schools' insidious incul- deliberate attempts by restructuring tians on any point of contro- cation of universalism. proponents to achieve ambiguously versy may just lend credence to Public educators may disagree with stated objectives in OBE.' Tradition- the adage "Fools rush in where this exclusivity; nonetheless, superses- alist Christians respond emotionally to angels fear to tread." Chris- sionism is the sine qua non of the these issues, and because they fail to tianseven so-called Fundamentalist Traditionalist Christian viewpoint and prioritize their relative importance. Christiansno more speak with one the source of almost all Traditionalist they treat whole language phonics voice than do Hispanics, African criticisms of the curriculum. Any with the same gravity as, say, glob- Americans, or any other identifiable alism: all are "subversive." Public group. Nevertheless, as a Tradition- educators should be aware that appar- alist Christian and a university Although ently minor issues may be seen as f professor who has presented public significant because of their perceived school informational seminars to Traditionalist ties to OBE. Traditionalist Christians throughout Closely related to the failure to the United States, I would like to offer Christians agree discriminate among issues is the fact some insights about the "Religious that some Traditionalist Christian s are Right" that may be of help to public that OBE not well-informed about specific school educators. details of issues. Neither their public contradicts their school administrators nor their Chris- What Educators Should Know tian leaders have presented them with Public educators appear to be woefully values, there is no a balanced analysis of the issues. ignorant of Traditionalist Christians' Public school educators may find belief insupersessionism,the belief in consensus on the themselves attempting to explain the exclusivity of Christianity that something that their audience may not states that only through faith in Jesus specific elements have the background to understand. Christ's atonement can eternal salva- Again using whole language versus tion be attained. This belief has a of OBE to which phonics as an example, many of these profound influence on how this group Christians will either not know about of Christians responds to OBE. they object. the different kinds of phonics If Christianity is the only true reli- approaches, or they will have been gion, assert Traditionalist Christians, aspect of public schooling that detracts programmed to reject any attempt to then any element of the curriculum from this belief or from the moral teach reading using an analytic that propounds that all religions are values associated with it will evoke approach. Approaches that do not equally valid and acceptableas opposition. Knowing this fact could have a clearly defined scope and opposed to teaching that all people help public educators respond to chal- sequence, they believe, lead to nebu- have an equally valid and acceptable lenges sensitively and judiciously. lous goals and subjective outcomes. right to practicewhatever religion A second important point to Most Traditionalist Christians, they choosethreatens the eternal consider is that Traditionalist Chris- however, are eager to learn, and they

MARCH1994 111 Traditionalist Christians fear that their children's advocacy of moral absolutes have been receptive to presentations that challenged their most cherished will detrimentally affect theirgrades notions, provided that they see the presentations as objective. If they and academic placement. believe that public educators will listen, they also welcome suggestions prohibits, such as homosexuality. They Concerns About Indoctrination on how to diplomatically present their fear that their children's advocacy of In addition to concerns about affective concerns. Unfortunately, experience moral absolutes, which preclude their objectives, Traditionalist Christians has led them to anticipate that they having an attitude of "tolerance" or believe schools using OBE are will be stonewalled and their concerns other secularly sanctioned "virtues," indoctrinating children with social, will be disparaged. Educators seem will detrimentally affect their chil- political, and economic values in neither to desire nor respect their dren's grades and academic place- subjects such as science, health, social input. As a result, they often resort to ment. They believe that their children studies, and the visual and performing aggressively presenting their concerns. will have to demonstrate politically arts. Environmentalism, globalism, Although Traditionalist Christians correct behaviors, and that the goals, and multiculturalism are supplanting agree that OBE contradicts their processes (such as group problem ideas such as the prudent utilization values, there is no consensus on the solving and cooperative learning), and of resources, "my-country-right-or- specific elements of OBE to which evaluations used in OBE deliberately wrong" patriotism, and America they object. Participants at my presen- attempt to undermine their children's the melting pot. Many of the views tations have raised a number of points values, individuality, and commitment presented on political issues such as that could be summarized in two major to personal responsibility. gun control, abortion, homosexual concerns: they object to affective Both public educators and Tradi- activism, and the welfare state violate emphases in content courses, J.:A they tionalist Christians need to understand deeply held Traditionalist Christian oppose the covert indoctrination of one another's perspectives on the beliefs. social, political, and economic values. question of ambiguous, affective Traditionalist Christians have, for outcomes. Most Traditionalist Chris- some time, asserted that indoctrination Concerns About native Goals tians, when presented with hypothet- has been occurring within traditional An objective fromMaine's Common ical situations that illustrate how their education, but OBE exacerbates their CoreofLearningillustrates how a children are affected by classmates concern. OBE, they say, makes covert seemingly benign objective, if who do not know how to achieve indoctrination overt. Ambiguously couched in ambiguous terminology, peaceful compromise, begin to under- worded objectives legitimize the can evoke controversy: stand why such OBE objectives have politicization of the classroom and the Students with a common core of been formulated. Yet I have found no curriculum, and they sanction educa- knowledge work cooperatively and evidence of an equal level of under- tors to "come out of the closet" with actively in group decision making. standing on the part of public educa- political perspectives antithetical to whether in small groups or in the larger tors regarding the concerns many of society; are able to listen, share opin- those embraced by most of these ions, negotiate, compromise, and help these Christians have about formal- Christiansperspectives students will the group reach consensus. izing affective goals. How many be held accountable to when demon- educators understand that many Tradi- strating various outcomes. Traditionalist Christians challenge tionalist Christians view a goal such as this objective because it seems to Maine's "Have a basic understanding Concerns About Process promote relativism as a desirable goal. of the changing roles and rights of In addition to these two major They object to fostering the abilities to women and men" as being diametri- concerns, the process by which OBE "compromise" and "reach consensus" cally opposed to their belief that the and other restructuring initiatives have when such practices could lead in husband is the head of the house and been adopted disturbs Traditionalist certain situations to capitulation to the wife is the helpmeet who is to Christians. Many of them feel manipu- group pressure or to approval of submit to the husband's authority? lated or disenfranchised by their behaviors that a Traditionalist inter- How many educators would attempt to public servants, some of whom they pretation of Christian Scriptures accommodate this concern? perceive as duplicitous or dishonest.

EMT ATIONAL LEADERLHW 43 Public schools could offer courses that focus solely For example, one state legislator other leaders and offered upon values and that approached me at a restructuring on an "opt-out" basis. seminar and showed me an invitation Thus, no group would be unambiguously specify he had received to an institute at able to assert that a hidden Harvard University on reform in agenda is subverting its public education. A session-by-session value system, and neces- their objectives and the analysis of the agenda could be the sary affective objectives subject of a whole article on why the could be addressed openlymeasurable outcomes. process of achieving reform angers in the OBE curriculum. Traditionalist Christians, particularly Second, by offering clearly desig- seminarsa simulated dialogue of as it relates to OBE. The description of nated "critical issues" courses, schools sortseven the most emotional the last formal presentation of the could address concerns about covert factions have been willing to listen to conference says: or overt indoctrination. The primary reason. A debate format seems only to The most difficult part of systemic content of such courses would be make people more defensive of their reform is not in finding consensus with issues analysis or problem solving, positions. Public information seminars each other ... tt t hardest task may be in using an approach such as the Issues in various school districts provided by "selling" the package to the public.... Analysis Procedure= and a curriculum presenters agreed upon by a majority This session examines how legislators emphasizing critical reading and of Traditionalist Christians and public can package education reform and offers suggestions for dealing with thinking skills. Such a curriculum educators could address not only vocal opposition groups. would replace the teaching of so- controversy about OBE, but concerns called higher-order thinking skills, about other issues as well. The conference sponsors appear to which most Traditionalist Christians Those who would presume to assume that legislators, presumably view as the affective, covert values- receive the benediction "Blessed are invited to discuss the need for and the clarification agenda of OBE. the peacemakers"Traditionalist nature of reform, will buy into all the Critical issues courses would Christiansand those who presume to reforms presented, that consensus will examine major political, economic, teach conflict resolution skillspublic be achieved, that the specifics of the and social issues identified by a educatorshave failed to achieve reforms will need to be "packaged" cross section of public school clients. either peace or resolution. Public and "sold" to the public, and that The most visible proponents and forums would be a starting point opposition will be stifled. Tradition- opponents of an issue would present toward an attainable goal: consensus alist Christians have too frequently students with a spectrum of opinions. on what constitutes a good education noted a similar arrogance on the part OBE objectives would be clear, for America's children. of their public school administrators measurable academic outoomes when they implement OBE. emphasizing reading, writing, 'A helpful resource presenting issues of listening, and speaking. Students concern to Traditionalist Christians isRein- Some Suggestpd Solutions would complete a formal written venting America's Schools,published by To address the concerns of Tradition- analysis of each issue that would Citizens for Excellence in Education, Box 3200, Costa Mesa, CA 92628. alist Christians and reduce the conflict incorporate research based on 'To obtain a treatise on the Issues Anal- 1 between them and public educators speakers' presentations and that ysis Procedure, contact Arnold Burron at over OBE, I offer several suggestions. would not have to conform to the the address below. First, public schools could offer political leanings of their instructors. courses that focussolelyupon values Such a format would avoid charges and thatunambiguouslyspecify their of indoctrination or of failure to teach Arnold Burron is Professor of Education objectives and the measurable legitimate cognitive higher-order at the University of Northern Colorado, outcomes. Courses such as "Leader- thinking skills. Division of Elementary, Middle School, ship and Group Dynamics," "Problem Third, a forum that emphasizes Early Childhood, and Reading, Greeley, CO 80639. He has conducted informa- Solving and Conflict Resolution," and dialogue rather, than debate would 1 tional seminars across the United States "Cooperative Decision Making" could address the concern about the process for local chapters of Citizens for Excel- be taught by civic, corporate, and of adoption. I have found that in my lence in Education. 50 MARCH 1994 Reprinted by permission of the author

DISPELLING THE MYTHS ABOUT OUTCOME-BASED REFORMS

WilliamSpady,Director KitMarshall and Spence Rogers, AssociateDirectors The High Success Network P.O. Box 1630,Eagle, CO 81631 Phone: 303/328-1688

Outcome-Based Education (OBE)seems to be a phenomenon of the Nineties.Until about three years ago, few people had heard ofit. Of those who had, most were either educatorsor instructors in places like the business world, technicalprograms, flight schools, ski schools, the military, or music conservatories.Some of them commonly used the term "Competency-Based"to describe their approach to teaching and assessing their students.Others called it "Performance-Based."

Regardless of the term used, the essence of their workwas largely consistent with the thinking and practices thatare called "Outcome-Based" today. To instructors in these fields, being Outcome-Based meant developing a clear focuson what was essential for their learners to be able to do successfully, andthen applying good common sense in finding and designingways for them to get there.These instructors directly assessed their learners' performances on exactly the things they told them and taughtthem were most important. And they didn't consider either the learnersor themselves "done" until the learners could demonstrate the intended outcome, or performance, successfully.Grades, credit, advancement to a new curriculum level, and/or final credentials and certification were all directly tied to these successful demonstrations.Their general rule:

The more important or critical the learning,the more Outcome-Based theinstructionalstrategiesshouldbe.

This was the simple and straightforward world of OBEto those of us who ever got a Merit Badge or Honor Badge in the Scouts,who earned a Lifesaving or CPR Certificate, who gota Driver's or a

51 Pilot's License, who earneda belt in karate, who got a technical assignment in the military, who passed the MedicalBoards or the Bar Exam, or who passed the music conservatory'sperformer exams. While it may not have been called OBEat the time, the instruction we received was focused on and organized around havingus develop clearly defined competencies.The certificates of accomplishment we received clearly reflected our successful demonstration ofthose competence standards. The great ironywas that these highly effective, common sense ideaswere not very prevalent in public schools-- the one place where their application seemed so badly needed.

The Changing World of Outcome-BasedEducation

But things are different today.Suddenly, tens of millions of us are hearing or reading about the term "Outcome-Based Education" in all forms of the mass media. OBE isnow a widely discussed topic from local PTA meetings, to state legislative debates,to national radio talk shows.Unfortunately, most of the thingswe are hearing about it are serious misunderstandings, misinterpretations,and misrepresentations of what OBE actually is.As a result, Outcome- Based reforms of all kinds are under either suspicionor attack by a variety of groups, many of which seem intenton blocking progressive, success-oriented change in educationaltogether. Because these highly organizedgroups have been so effective at capturing media and political attention, educators,policy makers, and the public have been discussingvery distorted versions of what Outcome-Based reforms are and represent.

Consequently, this paper is a deliberate attemptto set the record straight on what OBE actually stands for and is.It:1) presents a simple picture of the components that makeup an authentic Outcome-Based model, 2) describes the fourmajor approaches to OBE implementation in the field, and 3)explicitly addresses six broad areas of criticism that have been leveledat OBE efforts by its most vocal critics.The ideas in this paper give educational leaders concerned with the fundamentalreform and improvement of our K-12 educational system accurateinformation that they can bring to their publics in the face of thiswelter of distorted information.

The OBE efforts of today area direct response to the many demands for change of what some callour outdated, "Industrial Age" 1 system of educating children in an era of high technology, global communications, and rapidly expanding information systems. These changes invo!ve fundamentally refocusing and redirecting our education system from an emphasis on means to an emphasis on ends, from procedures to purposes, from time spent to outcomes accomplished, from attendance requirements to standards reached, from roles of personnel to goals for learners, from teaching to learning, from programs to performance, from curriculum to results, and from courses taken to criteria met. Many groups in our society are demanding these changes just as loudly as other groups are actively resisting them.Needed educational reforms of all kinds are being held hostage in this struggle over the direction and control of our educational system. The Components of Authentic Outcome-Based Systems OBE is a comprehensive approach to focusing, defining, and organizing all aspects of the instructional and credentialing systems of schools.The instructional system includes things like goal setting, planning, curriculum, teaching, instructional tools and resources, and assessment of student learning. The credentialing system includes things like evaluation, grading, credit, record keeping and transcripts, reporting, promotion, and graduation standards. The key thing to remember is:

In an Outcome-Based system,allof these instructionalandcredentialing componentsare defined, focused, and organized around the clear demonstrations of learning thata system regards as essential forallof its students, not around the clock and calendar.

What Exactly Are Outcomes?

Outcomes are CLEAR, OBSERVABLE DEMONSTRATIONS of student learning that occur at or after the end of a significant set of learning experiences.They are NOT values, attitudes, feelings,beliefs,activities,assignments,goals,scores, grades, or averages, as many people believe. Typically these demonstrations, or performances, will reflect three key things:1) what the student knows;2) what the student can actually DO with what he or she knows; and 3) the student's confidence and motivation in carrying out the demonstration.A well-defined 3 outcome will have clearly definedcontent or concepts anda well defined demonstrationprocess like explain, organize,or produce. These "culminatingdemonstrations", or ultimate performances, can be definedand implemented ina variety of ways. They range fromvery discrete skills thatare tied to specific kinds of curriculum content -- typical of schoollearning to very broad and complex performanceabilities required of peoplein their life pursuits that can be appliedin a wide variety ofsituations using a wide variety of content and concepts.In general, the broaderand more complex the performanceability is, the more "significant"the outcome is likely to be for thestudent in the longrun and the more it will require majorchanges in conventionalapproaches to curriculum design, instructionaldelivery, and theassessment and credentialing of studentlearning.

What Are the Purposesof Outcome-BasedSystems?

Outcome-Based systems haveclear purposes that reflecttheir philosophy.In the case of OBE, thisphilosophy clearly emphasizes "Success for All Studentsand Staff."There are no ?redefined limits on whoor how many students can besuccessful, nor on how much they can learnor how rapidly they can advance.This positive, child-centered philosophy isreflected in OBE's two formalpurposes: Ensuring that all studentsare equipped with the knowledge, competence,and qualities neededto be successful after they exitthe educationalsystem; and Structuring and operatingschools so that those outcomes can be achieved forall students. In a nutshell, these purposes are future-focused andsuccess- oriented.

What Kind of Premises andAssumptions Underlie OBE?

The two purposes ofOutcome-Based systemsare based on three key assumptions,or premises, that are backed bya great deal of research and practiceover the past thirty years. Theyare: 1. AU studentscan learn and succeed, butnot on the same day in thesame way;

4 2. Successfullearningpromotes moresuccessful learning; a n d

3. Schools control the conditions thatdirectly affectsuccessfulschoollearning: These assumptions ask educatorsto take a positive view of all their students-- much like parents do focusing on their unique learning needs, rates, and characteristics;consistently emphasizing and building on their successes;and directly promoting successful learning and progress, rather than failure.The bottom line of these premises is that studentscan learn successfully In school if schools really focus, organize, and commit themselvesto get that to happen. What PrinciplesDrive Outcome-Based Systems? OBE implementers put theiepurposes and premises into practice by deliberately and consistently guiding whatthey do around four key principles.These four principles represent the heart of an OBE approach and work togetherto alter and improve the opportunities that teachers and students have forbeing successful. These four principles are called:

1. CLARITY OF FOCUS on Culminating Outcomesof Significance; 2. EXPANDED OPPORTUNITY and Support forSuccess; 3. HIGH EXPECTATIONS for All to Succeed;and 4. DESIGN DOWN from Your Ultimate Outcomes.

Since there are many ways that these principlescan be defined and used in school settings, it makes littlesense to talk about implementing "THE" one model of OBE. However, wheneducators consistently and simultaneously apply these principlesin and across classrooms and schools, there is a distinctive characterto the Outcome-Based practices we typically find.

First, the Clarity of Focus principlemeans that curriculum planners and teachers must have a clear focuson what they want their students ultimately to be able to do successfully. Theythen use those "culminating outcomes" as the consistent foundation for planning, teaching, assessing, grading, record keeping, andreporting student achievement and progress.This first principle asks staff to 5

Jtr keep each student's ultimate learningsuccess clearly in mind and make it, rather than getting the curriculum"covered," the paramount factor in teaching, assessment, andachievement. OBE staff and students always know whatoutcomes they are working toward, and why. More advanced OBE districtsuse the term "exit outcomes" to describe the ultimate end-of-schoolingdemonstrations of significance they want for all theirstudents, and they plan and build their overall curriculum designs"down" or "back" from there.

Second, the Expanded Opportunityprinciple means that teachers and school staffmust do everything possible to keep opportunities for continued learning andimprovement open to students. This is done toencourage them to continue improving upon their initial performances and eventuallybe able to demonstrate the exit outcomes and the highest possiblelevel.This can happen in a broad variety of ways, including what hascome to be called "second chances" for demonstrating importantoutcomes successfully. Because this principle is basedon the reality that not all learners learn equally fast or in thesame way, OBE schools typically use time and instructional methods ina variety of flexible ways to best meet student learning needs.Therefore, OBE implementers adjust both the timing and methods of instructionto match what each learner can successfully do ata given point in time.Faster learners do not have to sit and wait foreveryone to learn to do the same thing before they moveon to more challenging tasks.

Third, the High Expectations principlemeans that staff must establish high, challenging standards ofperformance for students and be willing to ultimately hold themto those standards before accepting their performancesas "final."This is reflected, for example, in the clear, high standardsset by the Boy and Girl Scouts for receiving a Merit or Honor Badge, wherethe Scout must successfully demonstrate all of the criteriathat constitute the badge before receiving it.OBE implementers learn to distinguish between defining and holding high learning andperformance challenges for all their students, and studentversus student competition-- which, in fact, discourages many from even trying in the first place.Note too that in many districts this principle has been the basis for eliminating remedial, "deadend" programs and courses from the curriculum and for giving all studentsgreater learning challenges ona regular basis.

6 56 Fourth,OBE's Design Down principle means that staffmust begin their curriculum and instructional planning bystarting where they want students to "end up." Often thismeans starting at the end with the district's culminating exitoutcomes of significance and building the curriculum and its essential buildingblocks of knowledge and competence back from there.Although this backward mapping strategy is technically muchmore difficult to do than covering conventional curriculumtexts, it assures that students will have a clear path for gettingto the ultimate outcomes and that the curriculum will focuson what is truly essential for getting there.Sometimes this systematic and logicalprocess helps teachers recognize that some of what has been intheir curriculum is not really the essential substance that students must learn and master.Their challenge:replacing these less essential things with those that really matter in the longrun for students.

To summarize:what specific districts, schools,oc programs look like or do as the result of pursuing OBE'stwo key Purposes and applying its four key Principlescan vary enormously. The good news about this flexibility is that OBEcan be custom-designed to meet local needs and capabilities.When that is done within the spirit and intent of the twopurposes and four principles just described, improvements in student learning resultscan be very impressive. The bad news for OBE is that the four Principles,like any good innovation, can sometimes be applied in incompleteor inappropriate ways.These unfortunate applications both diminish the impact of the four principles as wellas cause problems and dilemmas for which local educators often lack solutions.The likely result:Allegations that OBE doesn't work or only helpssome students at the expense of others. The reality: AuthenticOBE wasn't really in place and never hada chance to work. The Four Faces of OBE in the Nineties As we view the broad range of Outcome-Based reform and implementation efforts occurring across North America today,there appear to be four different configurations and applications of the Purposes, Premises, and Principles just described.It is useful to think of these four visible "faces" of OBEas:

* Classroom Reform-- which focuses on having individual teachers consistently apply the four Principles to what they are presently teaching in their classrooms.

J * Program Alignment-- which brings the entire spectrum of a district's curriculum, instruction, and assessment components into tight congruence with each other through the four Principles.

* External Accountability-- which usually embodies state mandates for improved district performance involving explicit standards and the statewide use of standardized tests; and System Transformation-- which redirects and redefines a district's curriculum, instruction, and assessment components around the complex performance abilities needed by students in their adult lives.

While major differences in philosophy, substantive focus, curriculum design, instructional process, assessment techniques, and the application of the four Principles exist among these four faces of OBE, these important distinctions are blurredor lost in the current wave of controversy.In addition, some critics have compiled a long list of things they dislike about school reforms in general and indiscriminately called all of them "OBE." This list includes:

Anything having to do with outcomes; anything called outcome- based, performance-based, or results-based; national standards, programs, and assessments; anything involving cooperative learning, collaborative projects, or learning teams; integrated or thematic curriculum designs; critical or constructivist thinking; social responsibility, social interaction, or anything else with the word "social" in it; anything related to attitudes and values, human psychology and development, or personal wellness; anything related to ungraded classrooms or schools, multi-age grouping, flexible grouping, flexible scheduling, or year-round schooling; the emerging arenas of authentic assessment, performance portfolios, and/or computer-based record keeping; anything related to multi-cultural or whole language instruction; learning styles;site-based management; and more.

8 The .Issues Underlying Oppositionto OBE In the face of a blanket indictment thisbroad, it is almost impossible to specifically identify andaddress all of the issues that opposition groups raise about OBE, butthey seem to fall into six broad overlappingareas: The Nature of Outcomes ControlandAccountability Philosophy and World View Cost versusEffectiveness Standards versusSuccess InstructionalDeliveryandOpportunities Associated with each issue isa mixture of overlapping allegations and criticisms that we have chosento categorize as "myths" because they do not hold up in the face ofaccurate information about OBE theory and practice. We will consider themone at a time even though various themes are interwovenamong the issues. The Nature of Outcomes

Myth: Virtually all outcomes as defined bystates and local districts concentrate on fuzzy psychologicalframes of mind, attitudes, and values at theexpense of critical knowledge and measurable competence. Students will betested and graded on their social attitudes and behavior, rather thanon their knowledge and competence.

Reality: As noted earlier in thepaper, Outcomes are culminating demonstr ,dons of learning, notstates of mind, personal values, or beliefs about specific issues.By definition, they involve and embody demonstrations of knowledge andcompetence. While it is impossible to conduct "value-free" schoolsor to have a value-free curriculum, it is possible to separate desirededucational goals (that might involve things that fall into the affectiveand attitudinal arenas) from demonstrated competence. When correctlydefined-- which in many cases they have not been-- outcomes should focus on the application of significant and useful knowledge,not on feelings, beliefs, or preferences.As in partisan political campaigns, the critics have chosen to highlight particularlypoor examples of affective or attitudinal goals as being representativeof all outcomes. This completely distorts the facts. Thevast majority of

9 all of the things that educators haveever called, or treated as, outcomes have involved academic learning.

Furthermore, experienced OBE implementers havenever advocated testing or grading studentson the substance of their personal values or positions taken in discussionsor debates. However, how well students can explain the strengths and weaknesses of particular lines of argumentor conclusions drawn from available evidence isa legitimate criterion for teachers to use in assessing their analytical thinking and complexproblem solving abilities. Similarly, OBE implementers have characteristically made sharp distinctions between family and religious valuesthat are very much personal matters and those broadly civic values suchas honesty and fairness without which stable, democratic,community living would be impossible.

Finally, for an outcome to be measurable, it requires that clear, observable, substantive demonstrationprocesses and criteria be defined and that objectiveassessors can agree on the presence or absence of those criteria when .observing a demonstration of learning or performance. The criticserr in believing that the term "measurable" is inherently about scores, percents, and grades.Quite to the contrary;scores and percents are simply numbers that assessors impose on a performance, and grades are vague labels based on one person's translation of these uninterpretablenumbers into qualitative categories.Numbers simply do not and cannot embody the criteria or substance of the actual performance. Consequently, experienced Outcome-Based implementersurge assessors to focus on the substance of students' demonstrations, not on deriving numbers and scores that have no substantive meaning. The questions that is almost never asked or answered adequatelyin conventional grading circles is:eighty percent of what? Control and Accountability Myth: OBE is fundamentally a tool being used by states and the federal government to impose a globalist perspectiveon students and their families, undermine their value system, and coerce them into thinking and behaving in "politically correct" ways. Furthermore, the states are over-stepping their bounds by forcing students to learn and demonstrate particular thingsas conditions for promotion or graduation.

6 Reality: Authentic OBE has always beena local matter. Throughout the Seventies and Eighties, OBEimplementation was almost exclusively handled, literally withoutincident, by district boards of education and district staff.The Classroom Reform and Program Alignment approachesto OBE described earlier were almost exclusively entrusted to staffto design and implement withoutany form of organized politicalopposition.With the emergence of the System Transformation approach in thelate Eighties, its implementers began to insiston having extensive community involvement in the mission-setting andoutcome-defining processes of each district because communityinput and support were recognized in both principle andpractice as essential to thesuccess of implementation endeavors.This precedent of directly involving large numbers of community stakeholdersin the OBE direction setting and design processes has been carriedout consistently for the past several years by implementersof the System Transformation approach, using the StrategicDesign Process described earlier.These precedents and practices directly contradict the allegation that OBE isinherently state or nationally driven.

Paradoxically, however, state policies regardingthe accreditation of schools and the credentialingand graduation of students have been major obstaclesto the local implementation of OBE. The reasons revolve around thetime-based/calendar-driven legal definitions that all states have appliedto virtually all aspects of school programs and operations.Everything about the educational system has been legally constituted and regulatedto last a specific amount of time (usually nine months without exception),including the definition of courses, the basis forCarnegie units of credit, and the grading system that supports them.Serious Outcome-Based implementers have alwaysrun into those inflexible time-based institutional barriers and had to compromiseoutcome standards to the schedule and calendar again and again.With time-based state regulations in the way, locals couldn't be fullyOutcome-Based if they tried.

GThat is why the External Accountability approachbeing pursued by so many states in the Nineties hasbeen met with such mixed reactions by local OBE implementers. Onthe one hand, they recognize the state's inherent jurisdictionover the student credentialing and school accreditationarenas, and they seek Outcome-Based alternatives to what has traditionallyexisted. 11 Consequently, local OBE implementers welcomethose state initiatives that attempt to replaceor supplement existing time- based/Carnegie Unit/curriculumrequirements and accreditation standards with something that focusesmore directly on demonstrated student learning.However, when _those performance standards turned out to be poorly definedor imbedded in the same limiting organizational, curriculum,and testing models as before, these state policy changeswere rightfully viewed by local implementers as mixed blessingsat best.Since these state reform efforts also brought out droves of highlyorganized and uutzpoken OBE opponents down on their heads during1993, the blessings became overwhelmingly negative formany, many local OBE districts. Philosophy and World View

Myth: OBE represents a politicallycorrect, global, "New Age," socialist philosophy and world view thatviolates the beliefs and values of American families and mandatesdangerous thinking and influences into the system and its classrooms.

Reality:While on the surface OBE's chief criticsand opponents seem unified on all of these philosophy and worldview issues, their perspectivesare, in fact, fairly diverse. One place to start in coming to grips with this issue is by carefullyreading the articles by Robert Marzanno and by RobertSimonds in the January, 1994 issue of Educational Leadership, andthe article by Arnold Burron in the March, 1994 issue. Marzannogoes into explicit detail documenting the basis of some of themost extremecritic's anti- "New Age" perspectives and listsa host of individuals, institutions, and everyday practices that have been labeledNew Age by the writers whose thinking representsmany critics' viewpoints most articulately. What challenges the thinking ofone who does not share this anti-New Age perspective, is how radicallydifferent this view of life and living is from that of the "secularhumanists" (i.e., people who do not share what Marzanno calls their"ultra-fundamentalist" views) that make up the bulk of Americansociety.

The Simonds articleconveys the thinking, motivation, and goals of what has been one of the most outspokenof the OBE critics. Simonds and his Citizens for Excellence in Educationcolleagues have been responsible for providing conservativegroups across the country with a good deal of the information and strategiesneeded to question and criticize the broadrange of things listed earlier under 12 the Critics' Choice definition of OBE. While Simondsseems to have no overt objections to the Purposes and Principles of OBE, it is its tangible implementation that has himso concerned.His organization has been a beacon for those who believe that OBE policyand practice need to be viewed extremely skeptically for their implicit and explicit endorsement of globalist and socialist ideas andpractices that can be used to control andwarp the minds of children.

Burron, a respected colleague of Simonds, makes clear in his article exactly which tenants "Traditionalist Christians" willnot compromise and provides examples of things thatseem perfectly harmless from a secular point of view but which deeply threaten their beliefs.It is examples of this kind, he argues, that have fueled the fires of reaction against OBE-- not because OBE itself is inherently anti-Christian or anti-conservative-- but because those using it as a vehicle for reform are encumbering it with substance that significant numbers find objectionable.

The ultimate issue that surfaces here relates to the capacity of a single institution, the school or school system,to develop policies and priorities expressed as "outcomes for students"that are broad enough to allow for variability and choiceamong the institution's constituents.The imposition of a single, "one size fits all" approach looks like a sure-fire guarantee of continuedpolitical and philosophical controversy, but that has been the nature of educational policy making forever.There is emerging evidence that the controversy would cool if legitimate alternatives could surface that would guarantee quality learning by all students arounda core of critical knowledge and competence, while encouraging differences in terms of substance and detail in otherareas of the curriculum.

Cost versusEffectiveness Myth: There is no valid research which proves that OBE works. In the face of its outrageous implementation costs, OBE isno more than an expensive experiment in social engineering that wastestax dollars and damages our educational system and its best students. Reality: The assertions made here are radically different from the experiences of thousands of OBE practitioners. To make their case the critics have had to 1) ignore all of the everyday examples provided at the outset of this paper;2) dismiss as "self- 13

63 serving propaganda" the work,successes, and writings of many OBE teachers, schools, and districts;3) ignore the major distinctions among the four different faces of OBE implementation described earlier;and 4) comb the country forworst-case examples of what they have called "OBE practice" andrepresent those examples as the whole of OBE.In other words, they have chosento place OBE in the worst possible light and to ignore thesuccesses that have been the foundation of its credibility andgrowth among practitioners over the past fifteen years.

Beginning in the late Seventies,a small number of schools and districts began to share information aboutthe successes they were having with the Classroom Reform approachto OBE. The visibility they received at state, regional, andnational conferences created considerable attention, and others beganto emulate what they were doing.By 1980 an organization called the Networkfor Outcome- Based Schools was formed and began offeringconferences and workshops of its own.Since that time the numbers of schools and districts that have been attractedto the impressive body of classroom, school, and district evidence thathas accumulated has grown enormously, only because data, testimonials, and tangible practices were there for them to observe andlearn from. Several schools and districts have stoodout at one time or another since 1979 as examples worthy ofemulation. Johnson City, NY; Red Bank, NJ; Glendale (AZ) Union HighSchool District; Township High School District 214 in ArlingtonHeights, IL;the Lucia Mar Unified Schools in Arroyo Grande,CA; Alhambra High School in Phoenix; the Center School in NewCanaan, CT; and Southridge Middle School in Fontana, CA haveall served as examples and inspirations for countless practitionersbecause they were able to document major improvements in the following kindsof achievement results:

*National standardized tests in the basic skills; *State tests in basic skills and subjectareas; *Locally designed criterion referencedtests on key objectives across the curriculum; * The numbers and percentages of studentspursuing honors and Advanced Placementprograms; * The percentage of students taking andpassing Advanced 14 Placement exams for college credit; * The number of National Merit Finalists; * The numbers attaining "Highest Honors Graduate"status; * The numbers taking the ACT and SATexaminations; * ACT and SAT score averages; and * The numbers applying to and attendingpost-secondary institutions after high school.

To the critics this impressive body of evidence hasno merit because it has not been "nationally validated throughcontrolled experimental research." To them, nothing less will constitute "proof." This leaves today's educators and policymakers in an incredible bind for four key reasons.

First, the critics' argument assumes that there issome absolute uniformity in OBE implementation that makes"controlled conditions" feasible to implement andmeasure.Second, it would take a huge national effort to organize the implementationand documentation of these "controlled models" that theywant studied- - something that the research and practitioner communities would have to jointly coordinate on a major scale.Third, critics would be the last to allow anything so large and nationally organizedto occur. Fourth, since the outcome frdineworks of almost allstates and districts differ from each other, findinga common set of outcomes on which to compare models would be very difficult-- unless, of course, the research were to fall into the convenient trap of relying on nationally normed standardized test scores in the basic skills and assuming that they measure more complex and importantaspects of students' learning and achievement.

Regarding the matter of costs, the critics have made accusations and used figures that no experienced OBE implementer can comprehend.Their claims regarding per-pupil and total district costs are so far beyond known examples and credible possibilities that the basis and rationale for their numbers is.a total mystery. What is true, however, is that fully developed models of OBE require significant retraining of personnel, redesign of the deliverysystem, and retooling of its curriculum, instruction, assessment, and credentialing components. These front-end costs will not be cheap, but they can be phased in over time as an investment in overhauling a system that has not met the needs of many of its student and tax-

15 paying clients and has operated without significant changefor over a century.

But an essential must be stated:it costs no more on a day to day basis to operate a highly effective OBE_school or district than a less effective traditionalone, and the schools and districts cited above can speak directlyto that fact.But OBE does require a wiser allocation of available funds,resources, and personnel which many successful implementersare happy to _describe to those interested. To them the "Costversus Effectiveness" comparison makes OBE look like a stunning alternativeto what we now spend and what we get for our investment. Totax-conscious citizens, OBE may be the best educational bargain on the block unless, of course, they're holding out for state-supported vouchers for private schools. Standards versus Success

Myth:Since OBE insists on creatingsuccess for all students, itdoes so by lowering standards toa level that the poorest students can reach.This leads to "dumbing down" the curriculum and impedes the opportunities for greater challengethat the more advanced students deserve.

Reality: OBE has always stood for high expectationsand standards.Serious Outcome-Based efforts object to lowering either standards or expectations for what studentscan eventually accomplish.This myth might be valid if three thingswere true, but in well-implemented OBE systems theyare not.First, the four Principles would be absent. There would beno Clarity of Focus driving a Design Down curriculum framework,nor High Expectations linked to Expanded Opportunity instructional andassessment strategies.But that is not the case. The four Principlesare present and work together to transform the conditionsthat directly affect teacher effectiveness and student learning.The kinds of achievements described in the previous section abound.

Second, the instructional delivery system and strategiesof teachers would have to compel all studentsto be doing exactly the same things at the same time and allow no flexibility in timeor timing -- just like the typical Industrial Age modelof delivery does. Faster students would be compelled to wait for slowerstudents and would be challenged to do only what the lattercan do on any given 16

6 G day.This is absolutely NOT what happens in well-designed OBE classrooms.

Third, the relationship between standards and success would have to follow a pattern similar to that of a teeter-totter, which is apparently what the critics assume. That metaphor dictates that standards and success are direct opposites and thatsuccess is gained at the expense of standards, and vice-versa.If that were true, and it is not, the only way to increase one would be to decrease the other -- which is exactly the opposite of what OBE strives to achieve.Instead of the teeter-totter, OBE implementation is guided by the metaphor of a criterion-based elevator that is powered by the four Principles.The elevator is used to raise the levels of achievement, learning, challenge, and success for all students without impeding the progress of either faster or slower students. There are countess examples of OBE in the classroom in which teachers report virtually all students advancing far beyond their own previous levels, or those of equivalent groups of students in previous years.This is routinely accomplished without the successes of some negatively affecting the successes of others because the standards toward which they are working are not comparatively or competitively defined.

InstructionalDeliveryandOpportunities Myth:In its desire to equalize the achievements of all students, OBE delivery retards the pace and level of instruction and compels faster, more advanced students to spend their time helping lower, less motivated achievers at the expense of their own advancement.

Reality:This myth is closely related to the previous one, so keeping the teeter-totter and elevator metaphors in mind will definitely help. One of the key issues here is that many OBE practitioners make deliberate attempts to create active learning communities in their classrooms and promote a variety of challenging pursuits for teams of learners.This, they find, improves the attention and motivation of almost all students, directly enhances the learning climate in the classroom, and enables groups of students to take on large, complex projects that individual students could not hope to accomplish on their own.In addition, they deliberately expand the traditionally short opportunity structures that characterize most school work so that students have 17

67 the time necessary fordeveloping high level skills.Active learning classrooms of this kind donot expect or require all studentsto be doing exactly thesame assignment at the same levelon the same day, whichseems to be the assumption underlyingthe critics' concerns.

However, conducting team-focusedwork is not an attemptto compel students to interactwith others whom theydon't like against their will,or to spend all of their time tutoringothers instead of doing theirown work.Neither represents sound OBE implementation.All classroom life, OBEor not, brings students of diverse backgrounds andcharacteristics together inan intense social setting. The onlydynamic that OBE addsto that situation is the philosophical commitmentto expect each student withinthat mix to-- and to give each student every opportunityto -- develop the same high level skillsthat the highest achieversin the class have traditionally attained.

Nor should the concept ofExpanded Opportunity beviewed as license to do as littleas possible on a time schedule thatthe slowest students set. TheExpanded Opportunity Principleoffers teachers and studentsmaximum flexibility in organizing instructional deliveryarrangements, curriculum, and schedulesso that studentsare working on tasks appropriateto their skill levels for the greatestamount of time possible.It also encourages staff to view time, instructional methods,materials, and personnelas flexible resources to be usedin the smartestways possible, without putting all studentson the same inflexible Industrial Ageassembly- line structure, schedule,and constraintsas every other student.. However, since someparents and educators havea great need for highly structured deliveryand opportunitystructures and strategies, for them this otherwise sensiblestrategy of using staff and student time and talentmore flexibly is inherently objectionable.The key for teachers is to keep allfour Principles operating activelyand in balance with each other,especially the HighExpectations-Expanded Opportunity dynamic.This is possible in all kindsof classroom configurations, not just the staticlecture and seat workpatterns of the past.

MAjor thanks go to Marjorie Ledelland Raynette Sanchez of the HighSuccess Network for their insightfulcomments on earlier drafts of themanuscript. 18

65 From Theory to Practice: Classroom Application of Outcome -based Education by Jan Battistini, Language Arts/Reading Teacher, Sycamore Junior High School, Cincinnati, Ohio

Though Outcome-Based education must involve administrators, educators, parents and students, ultimately it is the classroom teacher who is the key to the success of the program. The most basic premise of Outcome-Based education (OBE) states that all students are capable of learning and can achieve high levels of competency when teachers delineate their expectations. Because I do this, students feel they are participants in classroom decisions and tend to be more supportive of all aspects of the class. Thus, one of the main objectives of OBE is met as students and staff both take responsibility for successful learning outcomes.

Any teacher involved with OBE must be able to evaluate the effectiveness of his/her own classroom strategies. To facilitate this, the rest of the article offers the reader my clAs.sroom experience implementing OBE. There are many aspects of OBE interfacing in my classroom:

(1) Both staff and students take responsibility for successful learning.

(2) Objectives are clearly defined.

(3) Students have choices and options, thus they usually perform at higher levels of competency.

(4) Instructional levels are determined after complete assessment of student mastery.

(5) Students are given the opportunity to gain from others and to build a hierarchy of

learning skills. (6) Evaluation by both peers and instructors is ongoing.

(7) Time is varied for learning according to the needs of each student and the complexity of the task. (8) Students are given the opportunity to work with core and alternative curriculum. (9) All students are ensured the opportunity for personal success.

In this article I will focus on encouraging responsible parental participation, creating a student community of readers and writers, forming cooperative learning groups, and administering appropriate assessment.I conclude with a discussion of alternate curricular materials and a few overview suggestions. My personal teaching experience encompasses all levels of reading students. The schedule has advanced placement, honors, college preparatory and basic/general students.

English Secondary Language students, Learning Disability and physically handicapped

students are also included. Usually the basic/general students are grouped as a class, but

all others are integrated into heterogeneous groups. Many rationalities are represented in

my classes and multi-cultural emphasis is part of my cirriculum. Meeting the needs of the

student population can be a challenge, but it is accomplished by planning, perspective, and

teaching strategies such as the following.

PARENTS ARE PARTNERS

From the very first moments of the class meeting, students are given a projected

outline of the clearly defined class objectives, some guidelines for success in the course, the grading system and my general philosophy of teaching. Several class meetings later, students have some input on some of the important decisions in the classroom milieu. The

outline given to the students serves as a letter of introduction to the parents. The letter is

taken home after the first class meeting, and parents and students sign this as an affirmation

of what is expected of everyone and also what is being addressed in the course.By the upbeat nature of the letter, I convey my sense of mission as well as my commitment to all students doing well in the course. My voice mail number, my home telephone number, and the school telephone number with my conference period are given to students and parents indicathig my availability to them as well as giving them the opportunity to be able to reach me at all times for any student or parent needs. This simple act confirms that'. we are all a team, and it gives the parents and students responsibility for contacting me for avy reason.

Additionally, an open invitation to visit the classroom is extended. My planbook holds a list of student home/parent/business telephone numbers. If a student is absent for several days, if a student did an outstanding performance on anything in the classroom, or if a grade drops below a "C," I notify parents with a quick call.

Through frequent contact with parents, I am able to assist students before a grade falls too drastically. Quick intervention with students/parents on unsuccessful tests, missing assignments or other mishaps allows for remediation and retakes on tests. If parents and students are aware that the instructor is monitoring most situations, the motivation is higher for students to succeed the first time.

Another tenet of OBE is that of specification of expected learning outcomes. In

addition to the general guidelines given early in the course, each day as the students enter the classroom the daily objectives are on the board. On Mondays, the weekly or unit

objectives are delineated. In addition to writing the objectives on the board, I verbally

review them at the beginning of each class period, making a special attempt to reach each child's learning style. Often as students enter the classroom, the overhead is on with the

following: "Be thinking about. " (Example- "How did Walter Dean Myers use

his early childhood experiences to bring authenticity to his novels?") The concept at work

is that of utilizing each class moment to the maximum.

71 CREATING A COMMUNITY OF READERS AND WRITERS

Throughout the course I always make a sincere attempt to meet each student at his/her level of competency and build upon the strengths already there. The first week I create a profile of reading/writing strengths of each student. This is done in a non threatening manner and is personalized as much as possible. Students are tested with the revised Gates-MacGinite Reading TestsVocabulary and Comprehension. Students are told the tests will not be reflected in their grades, but that they must try their best.

Overall, I find this test to be quite accurate, and it usually correlates with longer tests for reliability and validity. In addition, students produce a writing sample in the classroom while listening to classical music.

During this time of testing and creating a classroom climate, students are given the opportunity to read orally as part of the classroom situation so that I can check for miscue analysis, though they are also given the choice to read privately with the instructor. When students have choices and options, they usually perform at higher levels.

As part of the profile students complete two different interest inventories. The inventories are not the usual checklist type of inventory but are sentence or short paragraph answers. Student.: also write a brief biography at this time and share these with a small group. By the end of the first several days of the course, students have clear objectives of the program, a classroom climate of mutual respect has been built and I have a great deal of information about each student. At this juncture I have completed assessment of student mastery in varied areas, and I can determine where my instructional levels will begin.

After my own evaluation of individual students I request a conference with tutors/intervention specialists, speech therapists and any others who may be assisting students in special areas. By doing this I can more concisely assess the progress and the specific needs of students with special requirements. This is an ongoing process of evaluation. On a weekly basis each classroom teacher gives a written report to the intervention and Learning Disability teachers, and another element of Outcome-Based education is met in terms of ongoing assessment.

When we are completing the inventories the students discuss books, authors, their own writing and other aspects of the total reading-writing connection. As an instructor, I am already creating cooperative learning groups. In an informal manner I see the students who are verbal, the ones who are shy and those who will benefit from being in particular group situations.

COOPERATIVE LEARNING GROUPS INFLUENCE SELF-CONCEPT

WHICH CONTROLS LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR

While there are many aspects of Outcome-Based education that accentuate individual mastery of concepts, cooperative learning groups enhance learning for students

will take risks in small groups but who would might not take them in a large group setting.

Sometimes students are placed randomly in cooperative learning situations, but usually they

are placed according to a plan of high achiever, low achiever and perhaps one or two

students of average ability. This grouping maximizes the learning hours and time on task within a given classroom. Students sharpen creative thinking Skilig by asking questions in

a limited group, and they share the responsibility for learning.

ONGOING ASSESSMENT BY STUDENTS AND INSTRUCTORS

Often the students assess themselves or each other when they "present" the results of their small group work. Sometimes they present a chapter of a novel; sometimes the

presentation can be a skit from a book which their small group is reading, and occasionally

7 3 students give part of the lesson on new information. Students that are "presenting" give other students short objective tests, and thus they receive an assessment of their efforts.

The other classmates have a written form with which to evaluate the group presentation.

Sometimes numerical grades are given to the groups by their peers, and the scores are subsequently tallied by the instructor and used for a grade. Most students enjoy and learn from the feedback of their peers.

It is important to note that integral to my program is the completion of projects, reports and group activities rather than a myriad of summative tests. These evaluations are a better assessment of students' thoughts. The projects are often open-ended, giving the

students freedom to explore whatever their interests and abilities lead them to. By allowing

this freedom I am seldom disappointed. Usually students entrusted with both freedom and responsibility will rise to the occasion.

Other areas in the language arts/reading programs where ongoing assessment is of

great value is in peer editing and teacher conferences. In order to teach reading and writing

in a comprehensive manner, the teacher must realize that not all students will be working

on the same activity during the same time. Varying the time for learning according to the

needs of each student and the complexity of the task are especially apparent in the writing process. Some students will be drafting first issues of their written work, others will be

revising and editing, and some will be polishing a final draft.

Student intervention with a specific writing partner or small group will give the

necessary feedback.I find that students often take constructive criticism more easily from

each other than from an instructor. I have created a form the peer editor can use to express

areas of expertise or concern while working with another student. We look for the concise objective of the writing assignment and observe if the learning was addressed. (If the writing project focused upon sensory details; were they used effectively? If the paper

presented comparisons and/or contrasts; were these presented and presented appropriately in the writing?) When students know the next day's class period will be concerned with peer editing, they WILL have their assignment done. They do not want to disappoint the rest of the students in their group, and they realize their input is essential to the class. Thus the concept of student responsibility is an integral part of the classroom situation.

While peer editing is essential, teacher conferences are a significant feature of the writing process. Students feel very special as the instructor focuses all hisiner attention on the student and the writing. When I conference with students I always distinguish at least two areas of expertise and two areas for improvement on a given assignment. I keep written notes on the writing details, and the student keeps written verification of these notes. Thus both teacher and student know where the student needs instruction, and the

teacher can easily and accurately check for mastery of this objective in the next writing piece. Students keep their writing in a portfolio and often select representative work for

the portfolio with the input of the instuctor as well as that of other students.

THE WORLD IS MY TEXTBOOK

It is significant to note that I do not use a textbook for my classes. Such a book

would bring a sense of confinement, and I prefer to use trade books and authentic materials from the world around the students. Each year I try to develop units of study that meet the

changing needs of the student population. Past units have been socioeconomic issues, ecology and rock and roll. In this manner I can build upon the interests of the

students and individualize their classroom experience.

SECRETS OF SUCCESS OF AN OUTCOME-BASED EDUCATION PROGRAM

I. Attempt to have your total staff in concert with the tenets of your program. Teachers

need updated education and are usually open to new ideas and will implement them

if they feel significant support from administration and other staff members. Plan a day-long program at the outset for introducing and educating the staff with the objectives of your resolve. Speakers for our staff development programs have included both outside presenters and our own personnel. Sometimes outside

presenters have a wide appeal and bring a fresh approach to a given subject.

Having been a participant in the Ohio Writing Project , I was able to network with others when my department chairperson and I planned a staff development day.

Those planning the program interfaced with department chairpersons and received input concerning the needs and wants of the staff before contacting speakers. Our brought in speakers from a nearby university, a few presenters from the Ohio

Writing Project and some of our own staff members. We permitted staff members to select their own breakout sessions, and they evaluated the program on several different levels. We felt our program was effective for many reasons, but one was

the direct input of the staff in deciding what they wanted in terms of staff

development.

2. Continue to conference and interface with content area teachers. Because language arts

is the basis for all other disciplines, continue to make yourself available to other

staff member for support and help with specific areas of Outcome-Based education.

Some staff members will need more direction and support as new concepts are

introduced and implemented. Be familiar with the texts used by other departments,

and you will be able to give assistance as new ideas are implemented. You will be

able to offer valuable input as to how some lessons may be taught using the tenets

of OBE.

3. Success is contagious, and others will see the benefits of the program and be more eager

to share their concerns and ideas with you. Sometimes it is beneficial to begin with just a few new ideas, and then as a comfort zone is established, the more dramatic e steps can be taken.

I don't mean to imply that every time a class meets it will incorperate all aspects of

OBE. However, by focusing on the growth and progress of the individual student, one usually sees a pattern of success. Mutual trust is built from the fast day of the course and carries through to every aspect of the classroom experience. Every class has a personality

of its own, and the unique chemistry of students and instructors learning and teaching with

common goals is a form of achievement that can not easily be measured. The long-term

effects of competent teachers interacting with motivated students is never really known.

However, one can identify when short-term goals have been met. Such successes of

student-teacher cooperation and achievement have greatly enhanced the effectiveness of my

owit teaching. BIBLIOGRAPHY Selected Abstracts from the ERIC Educational Resources Database

ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana 78

,1/1/ //71,,,,,77,./07/7 ,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,, r rV How to Read an ERIC Abstract and Find Related Articles on this Subject

The ERIC educational resource database includes more than 800,000 bibliographic records. Educational resources listed in the ERIC database are of two types: EJ, journal (magazine) articles, which are easily found in most Education libraries, or through interlibrary loan; and ED, documents such as Master's theses, which are available at any library that has an ERIC microfiche collection. ED documents can also be ordered directly from ERIC Document Reproduction Service by using the form at the end of this bibliography section.

You may also wish to perform your own ERIC database search, to retrieve the most current information on your topic. This is easily done at any Education library; it may also be available to you online through your university computing system.

In the following bibliography, we have selected some recent relevant articles that you may wish to read for your further knowledge, or to use in a Distance Education Application/Research Project. ERIC abstracts are easy to read, once you are used to the system, which is detailed below.

.1=1=1111 Sample ERIC Abstract Note that this abstract has an El accession number, which means that the work abstracted is a journal article.

ERICAccession Number '..entilication number sequentially assigned to articles as they are /Clearinghouse Mansion proceSsed. Number E.I466919 EC606210 Article Title 0-Family-Centered Techniques: Integrating Enablemeat into the IFSP Process. Andrews, Author(s)--ir-Mary A.: Andrews, JamesR. Journal of Childhood -*Journal Title Communication Disorders.v15 n1 p41-46 1993 Reprint Availability .-(Reprint: UMI) Volume No.. Issue No., Pages Descriptive Note 0.Note: mane Issue:Service Delivery to Infants and Publlaston Date Toddlers: Current Perspectives. ISSN: 0735-3170 ISSN Major and Minor Descriptors----0-Descriptors: Child Rearing: Cornmunicauon (International Standard Serial Number) subjecttermsfoundin h Disorders: Early Intervention: Thesaurus of ERIC Descrasforsthat Family Involve/Deng Individual Development: charactenze substantive content. Objectives: Parenting Skills: Skill Development: Only the major terms (preceded by an asterisk) are printed in the Teamwak: Young Children Subject Index ofCurrent Index to Identifiers: 'Enabler Model; Family Needs. Major and Minor Identifiers Journals in Educaoon (CUE). 'Individualized Family Service Plans terms foundintheIdentifier Authority List that characterize proper names or concepts not yet This article describes techniques, used in a family- represented by descriptors. Only the Annotation centered early intervention project, that both assist in major terms (preceded by an accomplishing the goals of the Individualized astensk) are printed in the Subject Family Service Plan process and create opportunities Index ofCurrent Index toJournals in for families to display their present competencies Education. and acquire new ones to meet the needs of their children withcommunicr:,ondisorders. Annotator's Initials --10- (Auttior/IDD)

Nog: The format of an ERIC Journal Article resume tine vary according to the source from which the database Is accessed. The above format Is from the printed Index.anent Index to Journals It Eckman

7 'J The Following Documents on Outcome-Based Education are from the ERIC Educational Resources Database

AN: EJ487223 JN: Science-Teacher; v61 n5 p32-35 May 1994 AU: Otto,-Robert AV: UMI TI: The New Social Studies: The Kentucky Education AB: Discusses the positive and negative aspects of Reform Act of 1 590. outcome-based education. Also included in the PY: 1994 discussion are recommendations for the successful JN: Social-Studies; v85 n3 p106.09 May-Jun 1994 implementation of outcome-based education. (ZWH) AV: UMI AB: Describes the origins, development, and AN: EJ483363 significant characteristics of the Kentucky Education AU: Kaplan,-George-R. Reform Act of 1990. Discusses the importance of Tl: Shotgun Wedding: Notes on Public Education's outcome-based assessment in the program and Encounter with the New Christian Right. presents eight "valued outcomes" that will be PY: 1994 assessed in social studies. (CFR) JN: Phi-Delta-Kappan; v75 n9 pK1-K12 May 1994 AV: UMI AN: EJ486463 AB: Christian Right's stepped-up involvement in AU: Evans,-Karen-M.; King,-Jean-A. school life has been catalyzed by pervasive belief Ti: Outoome-Based and Gifted Education: Can We that schools are failing and by media disregard of Assume Continued Support? proschool counterarguments. Although Christian PY: 1994 takeover of public education is not imminent, JN: Roeper-Review; v16 n4 p260-64 Jun 1994 Religious Right is identifying problems that concern AV: UMI most Americans and bringing new players and AB: Outcome-based education (OBE) is a reform perspectives into school government. Administrators movement that puts equity in the forefront, ties must cultivate support for sound educational excellence to outcomes, and recognizes giftedness practices. (MLH) only as It is expressed by achievement. Gains brought about by pull-out, mentoring, and AN: EJ483291 compaction programs may be lost if needs of gifted AU: Capper,-Colleen-A. students are not recognized under OBE. (MD) 11: "And Justice for Al:" Critical Perepectivers on Outcomes-Based Education in the Context of AN: EJ486340 Secondary School Restructuring. AU: Schwarz,-Gretchen; Cavener,-Lee-Ann PY: 1994 Ti: Outcome -Based Education and Curriculum JN: Journal-of-School-Leadership; v4 n2 p132-55 Change: Advocacy. Practice, and Critique. Mar 1994 PY: 1994 AV: UMI JN: Journal-of-Curriculum-and-Supervision; v9 n4 AB: Uses qualitative research methods (interviews, p326-38 Sum 1994 classroom observations, and document analysis) to AV: UMI determine whether a rural midweetern high school's AB: Explores outcome-based education, tracing its restructuring process serves particular values and historical basis in competency-based education and silences others. Findings showed lack of mastery learning. Discusses the results of an consideration for social power and student identity ongoing dialogue between the authors (a classroom issue's. Basic restructuring elements (outcome-based teacher and a university researcher). Although OBE education and success for all students) were offers some powerful ideas, it is not radical enough. embraced without discussing educators' obligations OBE is based on behavioral objectives determined by to students. (Contains 18 references.) (MU-I) outsiders not by the local learning community. (Contains 32 references.) (MLH) AN: EJ482527 AU: Mitchell, - Linda; And-Others AN: EJ486169 Ti: Designing Successful Learning: Staff AU: Bosches,-Floyd; Baron,-Mark-A. Development for Outoome-Based instruction. TI: OBE: Some Answers for the Uninitiated. PY: 1993 PY: 1994 JN: Journal-of-Staff-Development; v14 n3 p28-31 JN: Clearing-House; v67 n4 p193-96 Mar-Apr 1994 Sum 1993 AV: UMI AV: UMI AB: Discusses outcome-based education (OBE); AB: Describes the planning, facilitation, continuation, what it is, its underlying beliefs, why schools should and evaluation of Designing Successful Learning, an change to it, objections to it, needs It can fulfill, and effective staff development program created to how it begins. (SR) facilitate district restructuring and Improve student outcomes. The program focuses teachers' attention AN: EJ485544 on cooperative learning, Interdisciplinary Instruction, AU: Kudles,-John-M. performance assessment, student diversity, and Tl: Implications of 06E: What nhould You Know Instructional technology. (BM) about Outcome-Based Education? PY: 1994 AN: EJ481286 AU: Streshly,-William -A.; Newcomer,- Leland so Not Topic Guido ES Bibliography 1 TI: Managing Change with Accountability: A interdisciplinary approaches, choose common else Nang* for Educator. outcomes, and stress effort over ability. (MLH) PY: 1994 JN: NASSP-Bulletin; v78 n660 p62-68 Mar 1994 AN: EJ481251 AV: UMI AU: PliskarAnn-Maureen; Mc Quaide,-Judith AB: School board and community have only two PY: 1994 ways to achieve accountability: by prescribing JN: Educational-Leadership; v51 n6 p66-69 Mar teaching methodology and establishing expensive 1994 supervisory superstructure to enforce it; or by AV: UMI establishing desired learning outcome standards and AB: In Pennsylvania, introduction of student learning products and requiring professional staff to develop outcomes became a major battle rather than a plans to achieve them and criteria to evaluate reasoned debate, and final language of the proposed results. Teachers and principals can be creative regulations was somewhat muted. Because the state professionals only by choosing second alternative. failed to cultivate the grass-roots support necessary (MLH) for reform, a vocal, effective opposition emerged, and sensation overshadowed real issues. Reformers AN: EJ481255 must communicate to stakeholders, marshal support, AU: Fritz,-Marshall and defuse the opposition. (MLH) TI: Why OBE and the Traditionalists Are Both Wrong. PY: 1994 AN: EJ481245 JN: Educational-Leadership; v51 n6 p79-82 Mar AU: Shriner,-James-G.; And-Others 1994 TI: "All" Means "AN"-- Including Students with AV: UMI Disabilities. AB: Although the traditionalists prefer a mandated PY: 1994 curriculum and rigid top-down regulations, the JN: Educational-Leadership; v51 n6 p38-42 Mar outcome-based proponents are vague about the 1994 means for students to achieve compulsory end AV: UMI results. Neither approach is appropriate, since each AB: The National Center on Educational Outcomes is based on a coercive model. One Christian offers guidelines for including students with academy balances a traditionalist approach in the disabilities when identifying outcomes, assessing affective domain with considerable student leeway in students, defining acceptable performance, and designing academic outcomes. (10 references.) reporting on schools' progress in meeting outcomes. (MLH) Schools should include all students in their accountability and data collection programs. All AN: EJ481254 students have the right to learr to meet high, AU: Zitterkopf,-Randy rigorous content standards. (Contains 16 TI: A Fundamentalist's Defame of OBE. references.) (MLH) PY: 1994 JN: Educational - Leadership; v51 n6 p76-78 Mar AN: EJ481243 1994 AU: Jasa,-Sharon; Enger,-Lin AV: UMI Ti: Applying OBE to Arts Education. AB: Christian fundamentalists, must cease their PY: 1994 scapegoating of outcome-based education, since JN: Educational-Leadership; v51 n6 p30-32 Mar churches, like other organizations, are goal oriented, 1994 and OBE is neither public education's devil nor its AV: UMI savior. Since finances are limited, schools should AB: Adopting an outcome-based system at focus on the cognitive/ecademic domain and embed Minnesota's State Arts High School has produced affective outcomes within it. Making social/affective sweeping changes that transcend curriculum values a top priority hinders achievement of all reorganization, ungraded report cards, andrevised outcomes. (MLH) daily schedule. The school prints outcomes on students' course report forms, or student learning AN: EJ481252 plans; teachers indicate performance levels of AU: McGhan, -Barry "challenge," "superior," or "satisfactory." Clearly TI: The Possible Outcomes of Outcome-Rimed defined achievement standards benefit everyone. Education. (MLH) PY: 1994 JN: Educational-Leadership; v51 n6 p70-72 Mar AN: EJ481242 1994 AU: Brandt,-Ron AV: UMI TI: On Creating an Environment Where All Students AB: Choosing outcome-based education over a Learn: A Conversation with Al Mammy. traditional time-based approach means that students PY: 1994 will progress through a given set of outcomes at JN: Educational-Leadership; v51 n6 p24-28 Mar different rates. To prevent scheduling difficulties, 1994 schools could make the transition to flexible AV: UMI scheduling and performance contracts within e AB: Although both mastery learning and outcome- traditional curriculum. Then teachers could develop based education require students to meet certain criteria, OBE encourages students to assess

81 Not TIVIC GYMS 66 Bibliography 2 themselves. Johnson City (New York) Schools stress facets may be empowering to students and three outcomes: academics, work and process skills, teachers, much of the system continues to be and attitudes. The key to Johnson City's success lodged in a framework geared toward structure and lies in clearly defining these desired outcomes, control. (MLH) getting broad community support, and adopting a feasible implementation plan. (MLH) AN: EJ474275 AU: Ledell,-Marjorie-A. AN: EJ479847 TI: To Be or Not to OBE? AU: See,-John PY: 1994 TI: Technology and Outcome-Based Education: JN: Educational-Leadership; v51 n4 p18-19 Dec-Jan Connections in Concept and Practice. 1993-94 PY: 1994 W: UMI JN: Computing-Teacher; v21 n6 p30-31,52 Mar AB: Critics of outcomes-based education and 1994 proponents of vouchers, school choice, creationism, AV: UMI and tax limitation measures often seem to be AB: Considers new roles for information technology advocating publicly funded private education. School in educational transformation. Topics discussed leaders attempting to ii aplement OBE or other include the rise of digital information; school improvement programs should describe programs restructuring and outcome-based education; properly, involve the community, develop and changing the role of teachers; changing what and implement a communications strategy, and be willing now students learn; and changing the management to debate the private-versus-public-education issue. of student assessment. (LRW) (MLH)

AN: EJ477036 AN: EJ474274 AU: Etegnall,-Richard-G. AU: McQuaide,- Judith; Pliska,-Ann-Maureen TI: Performance Indicators and Outcome. as TI: The Challenge to Petinsylvanie's Education Measures of Educational Quality: A Cautionary Reform. Critique. PY: 1994 PY: 1994 JN: Educational-Leadership; v51 n4 p16-21 Dec-Jan JN: International-Journal-of-Lifeiong-Education; v13 1993.94 n1 p19-32 Jan-Feb 1994 AV: UMI AB: Quality in outcomes-based education depends AB: Controversy over a proposed outcome-basedon type of educational goals and outcomes and education package in Pennsylvania forced school view of humanity as motivated by self-interest. reformers to eliminate explicit values instruction When these requirements are not met, outcomes- from the curriculum. Although respect and driven education may be dehuma-izing and responsibility were agreed-upon moral values, educationally trivializing. (SK) tolerance was not. Proponents erred by failing to publicize and promote positive aspects of the reform, AN: EJ476419 underestimating OBE opposition, and describing AU: Bergen,-Doris vague outcomes end measurable behaviors. 11: Authentic Performance Ameements. (Contains 23 references.) (MLH) PY: 1994 JN: Childhood-Education; v70 n2 p99-102 Win AN: EJ472464 1993-94 AU: Clemons,-Molly-J. AV: UMI TI: Time Elements May Require Change. AB: Examines the trend toward outcome-based PY: 1993 assessment that demonstrates what children have JN: Communication:-.Journalism-Education-Today- really learned by evaluating what they can do in (C:JET); v27 n1 p14-16 Fall 1993 actual or simulated applied situations. Discusses AV: UMI theories of performance assessment, the qualities of AB: Argues that school districts may need to use a good authentic performance assessment, and ways different time frame to accommodate the varied time of integrating authentic assessment with traditional requirements of the more flexible outcome-based assessment procedures. (TJQ) education. Discusses three "alternate" scheduling methods currently in use and how they affect the AN: EJ475775 teaching of journalism. (SR) AU: Capper,-Colleen-A.; Jamison,-Michael-T. 11: Outoornes-Based Education Reexamined: From AN: EJ472481 Structural Functionalism to Poetetructuralism. AU: Schaub, -Laura PY: 1993 TI: Outcome Based Education: A "Natural" for JN: Educational-Policy; v7 n4 p427-46 Dec 1993 Journalism Curriculum Dovaiopment. AV: UMI PY: 1993 AB: Outcomes-based education (09E) views itself as JN: Communication:-Journalism-Education-Today- drastic break from current inequitable educational IC:JET); v27 n1 p6.9 Fall 1993 practices and means of providing educational AV: UMI success for all students. Reexamines OBE from a AB: Describes a method for writing curriculum for multiparedigm perspective of organizations and journalism classes and publications courses, using educational administration. Although certain OBE the Outooms-Based Education model combined with

82 Hat Topic Guido 66 Bibliography 3

BEST COPY AVAILABLE a sequential developmental approach such as AB: Provides an objective critique of Outcome-Based Bloom's Taxonomy. Includes learning objective Education (OBE) as a reform strategy and a examples and a list of ;ournalism learner outcomes. curriculum process, based on a literature review and (SR) experience in North Carolina schools. OBE is theoretically narrow, but charges concerning OBE's AN: EJ471902 technocratic, uncaring orientation lack foundation. AU: Schalock,-H.-Del; And-Others The curriculum process allows teacher participation. TI: Focusing on Learning Gains by Purple Taught: A OBE accommodates a range of outcomes, but Cortical Figtre of Oregon's Outcome -Based Approach curriculum materials seem undistinguished. (19 to the Initial Preparation and Licanstrie of Teachers. references) (MLH) PY: 1993 JN: Journal -of- Personnel - Evaluation -in- Education; v7 AN: EJ465316 n2 p135-58 Aug 1993 AU: McKernan,-Jim AV: UMI TI: Some Limitations of Outcome-Based Education. NT: Special issue topic: "Student Learning in PY: 1993 Teacher Evaluation and School Improvement." JN: Journal-of-Curriculum-and-Supervision; v8 n4 AB: In 1987, Oregon moved to an outcome-based p343-53 Sum 1993 approach to teacher preparation and licensure, AV: UM! insisting on evidence of learning gains by students AB: Criticizes outcome-based education for reducing taught as one of the accomplishments that te.chers education, teaching, and learning to forms of human need to demonstrate. Oregon's program and its engineering and quasi-scientific planning procedures implications for teacher education and educational geared toward instrumental means and specified improvement are discussed. (SLD) ends. Stating outcomes as a comprehensive form of intellectual scaffolding limits inquiry and speculation AN: EJ470503 and gives schools and curriculum framers AU: Zlatos,-Bill unwarranted authority over knowledge and 11: Outcomes-Based Outrage. understanding. An alternative procedural-inquiry PY: 1993 model is proposed. (19 references) (MLH) JN: Executive-Educator; v15 n9 p12-16 Sep 1993 AV: UMI AN: EJ461884 AB: If outcomes-based education is the darling of AU: O'Neil,-John education reformers, it is the devil to conservative TI: Making Sense of Outcome-Based Education. parents, taxpayer groups, and legislators who PY: 1993 oppose it. Despite some initial successes in several JN: Instructor; v102 n5 p46-47 Jan 1993 states, critics charge that the states pushing OBE AV: UMI have no evidence that it works. Costs are another AB: Outcome-based education (OBE), which grew factor. So far, the ultraconservatives are winning. out of the mastery learning movement, calls for (MW) determining the skills, knowledge, and habits of mind students need in preparation for life after AN: EJ469473 graduation. The article describes the history and AU: Geddert,-Phyllis implementation of OBE and provides a list of OBE- Ti: Student Success through Outcome-Raved based resources. (SM) Education. PY: 1993 AN: EJ455346 JN: Alberta-Journal-of-Educational-Research; v39 n2 AU: Towers,-James-M. p205-16 Jun 1993 Ti: Outcome-Based Education: Another Educational NT: Theme issue with title "The Educational Quality Bandwagon? Indicators Initiative: A Success Story." PY: 1992 AB: In response to Alberta's Educational Quality JN: Educational-Forum; v56 n3 p291-305 Spr 1992 Indicators initiative, Fort McMurray Catholic Schools AV: UMI implemented outcome-based mathematics AB: Traces the roots of outcome-based education in instruction in 30 classrooms, grades 2-10. mastery learning. Considers such obstacles as lack Collaborative planning and implementation of of reform preconditions, poor understanding of outcome-based education principles led to Program features, teacher resistance, teacher improvements in student achievement, attitudes, and domestication, staff mobility, and routinization. (SK) responsibility. (SV) AN: EJ454407 AN: EJ465317 AU: Brandt,-Ron AU: Glatthorn,-Allan-A. TI: On Outcome-Based Education: A Conversation Ti: Outcome-Based Education: Reform and the with BIN Seedy. Curriculum Process. PY: 1993 PY: 1993 JN: Educational-Leadership; v60 n4 p66-70 Dec-Jan JN: Journal-of-Curriculum-and-Supervision; v8 n4 1992-93 p354-64 Sum 1993 AV: UMI AV: UMI AB: An interview with the director of the recently DE: Elementary-Secondary-Education established International Center on Outcome-Based Restructuring explains that outcome-based education

6 .3 Hot Topic Gukla 66 Bibliography 4 focuses on defining, pursuing, and ensuring success and redefinition stages in implementing transitional with the same high-level outcomes for all students. OBE. Transformational OBE's guiding vision is that of (MLF) competent future citizen. A sidebar summarizes key OBE principles. (MLH) AN: EJ447130 AU: Streshly,- William; Bernd,-Mac AN: ED371880 TI: School Reform: Real Improvement Takes Time. AU: Burke,-Kay PY: 1992 Ti: The Mindful Schooi: How To Assess 'Thoughtful JN: Journal-of-School-Leadership; v2 n3 p320-29 Outcomes. K-College. Jul 1992 PY: 1993 AB: Although politicians and educational leaders are AV: IRI/Skylight Publishing, Inc., 200 East Wood pressured to devise quick-fix educational reforms, Street, Suite 274, Palatine, IL 60067. significant change takes time, and reform efforts NT: 194 p.; Foreword by Arthur L. Costa. may not be fully measurable for 10 years or more. PR: EDRS Price - MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Case study of a California school district given 10 Available from EDRS. uninterrupted years to develop and implement an AB: Authentic assessment, as referred to in this outcome-based instructional model suggests that book, encompasses meaningful tasks, positive more time be given to implement program interaction between teachers and students, methods improvement strategies. (MLH) that emphasize higher-order thinking skills, and strategies that allow students to plan, monitor, and AN: EJ434408 evaluate their own learning. Most important, AU: Nyland,-Larry authentic assessment means helping students to TI: One Diotricfs Journey to Success with Outcome- apply and transfer specific skills to real-life Basrici Education. situations. This guide is a resource for helping PY: 1991 educators understand, redefine, and reshape their JN: School-Administrator; v48 n9 p29,31-32,34-35 own assessment practices. A wide range of Nov 1991 alternative forms of assessment is presented in a AB: Despite serving growing numbers of at-risk meaningful and practical format. Each chapter students, Pasco (Washington) School District has introduces a different assessment tool and includes been transformed through outcome-based education a description of the assessment method and into a district widely recognized for quality. Pascoe's discussion of why and how it should be used. OBE process demanded a school vision and mission Examples of the many assessments are provided, as statement; intensive teacher retraining; well as opportunities to create original tools and implementation of mastery learning, reality therapy, perform self-evaluation. Following an introduction and teacher teaming goals; and focus on outputs. discussing the current status of assessment, the 12 (18 references) (MLH) chapter topics are: (1) thoughtful outcomes; (2) standardized tests; (3) teacher-made tests; (4) AN: EJ432790 portfolios; (5) performances and exhibitions; (6) AU: King,-Jean-A.; Evans,-Karen-M. projects; (7) learning logs and journals; (8) T1: Can We Achieve Outcome-Based Education? metacognitive reflection; (9) observation checklists; PY: 1991 (10) graphic organizers; (11) interviews and JN: Educational-Leadership; v49 n2 p73-75 Oct conferences; and (12) final grades. Contains 111 1991 references. (TJQ) AV: UMI AB: Outcome-based education is rooted in earlier AN: ED369227 ideas, such as Tyler's objectives, Spedy's outcomes, AU: Thurlow,-Martha-L. Glaser's criterion-referenced measurement, Bloom's TI: Implications of Outcomes -Based Education for mastery learning, 1970s accountability concerns, Children with [Haab Miss. Synthesis Report 6. and the 1960s competency-based education CS: National Association of State Directors of movement. Minnesota's experience suggests various Special Education, Alexandria, VA.; National Center practical implementation challenges concerned with on Educational Outcomes, Minneapolis, ; IN.; Saint curriculum development, instructional implications, Cloud State Univ., MN. appropriate measurement, and staff development. PY: 1993 (19 references) (MLH) NT: 13 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association of Private Schools for AN: EJ432789 Excentional Children (Sanibel Island, FL, January 21, AU: Spady,- William -G.; Marshall,-Kit-J. 1993). TI: Beyond Traditional Outcome-Based Education. PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postago. PY: 1991 AB: This paper examines the concept of "outcomes- JN: Educational-Leadership; v49 n2 p67-72 Oct based education" (OBE), how it was developed, how 1991 it relates to other current reforms that encompass AV: UMI the notion of outcomes, and how it relates to AB: Transitional outcome based education lies in the students with disabilities in theory and in practice. twilight zone between traditional subject matter Outcomes-based education holds the all children curriculum structures end planning processes and can learn and succeed and that schools are the future-tole priorities inherent in transformational responsible for ensuring the success of all students. OBE. Districts go through incorporation, Integration, Two major OBE modals are John Champlin's 84

Not Toplo. Outdo 66 Bibllograohy 5 BEST COPY AVAILABLE Outcomes-Driven Developmental Model and William assessment, feedback, and instructional strategies; Spady's High Success Network Strategic Design (4) districtwide outcomes-driven curriculum; (5) Model. OBE fits within a range of rrforms that expectations of Kansas's local districts and schools; address school structure and management, (6) outcomes adopted by the Kansas State Board of community and business involvement, assessment Education; (7) integrating outcomes within the techniques, and accountability. In theory, OBE is school curriculum; (8) composition of a mission consistent with the belief that students with statement and outcomes teams; (9) the mission disabilities may have different learning rates or statement; and (10) Iserner exit outcomes, program different learning styles to which instruction needs and course level outcomes, and unit and lesson to be adjusted. In practice, efforts in some states to outcomes. Appendixes provide a glossary and a implement OBE have encountered resistance by bibliography. (LL) state legislatures. Implications of OBE for students with disabilities are outlined. Promises, pitfalls, and AN: ED360356 challenges associated with outcomes-based AU: Gray,-I.-Lee, Ed.; Hymel,-Glenn-M., Ed. education for children with disabilities are 11: Successful Schooling for AN: A Primo. on highlighted. (Contains 18 references.) (JDD) Outcome-Based Educition and Mastery Learning. PY: 1992 AN: ED368770 AV: Network for Outcome-Based Schools, Johnson AU: Guskey,-Thomas-R. City Central Schools, 666 Reynolds Road, Johnson TI: Outcome -Based Education and Mastery Looming: City, NY 13790 (1-9 copies, $10.95 each; 10 or Clarifying the Differences. more copies, S9 each). PY: 1994 NT: 155 p.; Papers previously published in NT: 21 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of "Outcomes," the quarterly journal of the Network for the American Educational Research Association Outcome-Based Schools. (New Orleans, LA, April 4-6, 1994). PR: Document Not Available from EDRS. PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. AB: This collection brings together writings on two AB: Questions frequently arise about the origins of powerful approaches to education, outcome-based outcome-based education and mastery learning, their education (OBE) and mastery learning. OBE is about similarities and differences, their theoretical and refocusing on the people in the educational system practical links, and evidence about their effects on and their success in achieving excellence as learners student learning. Historical and theoretical and teachers. The following papers are included: (1) perspectives show a clear distinction between "Toward a Network Description of Outcome -Based outcome-based education and mastery learning. Education" (Board of Directors of the Network for Outcome-based education is principally a curriculum Outcome-Based Schools); (2) "Outcome-Based reform model with definite implications for the Schools: A Definition" (Robert E. Blum); (3) "Key assessment of student learning. Mastery learning, Messages from the High Success Program on OBE: while known by various names and in various forms, Part I" (William G. Spady); (4) "Key Messages from is principally an instructional strategy labeled by B. the High Success Program on OBE: Part II" (William S. Bloom, and designed to help teachers enhance G. Spady); (5) "Four Phases in Creating and the quality of their teaching procedures so that more Managing an Outcome-Based Program" (John R. of their students learn excellently. Outcome-based Champlin); (6) "Outcome-Based Education education and mastery learning address different Operationalized in the Classroom: The Glendale educational concerns, but their potential if used in Outcome-Based Instructional Model" (Spence Rogers combination is clear. The combination of a and the Glendale OBI Team); (7) "A Functional thoughtful curriculum and effective instructional Analysis of Mastery Learning" (Lorin W. Anderson); practices makes true improvement in learning (8) "Implications of Psychological Research on possible. One figure illustrates the discussion. Mastery Learning" (S. Alan Cohen); (9) "The (Contains 27 references.) (SLD) Contributions of Mastery Learning" (Thomas R. Guskey); (10) "Belief Systems and Mastery AN: ED368695 Learning" (James H. Block); (11) "Demystifying Ti: A Design for Budding Outcomes - focused Mastery Learning" (Robert Burns and Carrie Curricula. Kojimoto); (12) "Outcome-Based Schools and CS: Kansas State Board of Education, Topeka. Mastery Learning: A Desirable Link" (Lorin W. PY: 1993 Anderson); (13) "Outcome-Based Education/Mastery NT: 37 p.; For related documents, see SP 035 122- Learning: What Is It? Why Do It? How Do You Do 123. It?" (Carol Barber); and (14) "A Macromodel of PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PCO2 Plus Poster). Effective, Outcome-Based, Mastery Learning School AB: Consistent with school restructuring efforts and Variables: An Expanded View" (Glen M. Hymel). Kansas state standards of performance, this (SLD) resource document provides direction and resources to practitioneru preparing to move their schools AN: ED359205 toward an outcomes-based integrated curriculum. AU: Shanks,-Joyce Following an 'Atroduction, the document presents TI: Unintended Outcomes: Curriculum and Outcome- discussions of: (1) the transition from a traditional to Baud Education. a transformational curriculum; ;2) the statewide PY: 1993 organizational structure for curriculum development: (3) integrating and aligning outcome-balm;

Hot Topic Guido 66 Bibliography 6 NT: 14 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of of the school district and community. (Contains 27 the American Educational Research Association references.) (JPT) (Atlanta, GA, April 12-16, 1993). PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. AN: ED347034 AB: Outcome based education (OBE) is a way to AU: Jacobsen,-Gary; Jacobsen,-Cynthia organize curriculum and instruction so that the focus Ti: One School's Approach to Outcome Based is on what educators want students to achieve. Key Education. principles are defining clear outcomes, expanding PY: 119921 learning opportunities to better achieve these NT: 8 p.; Paper presented at the International Rural outcomes, and having high expectations for learning and Small Schools Conference (Grand Forks, ND, success. OBE must be viewed as a process, rather March 30-April 1, 1992). than a predetermined program. Most current OBE PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. applications are traditional OBE, in which the starting AB: This paper describes the efforts of a transitional OBE, where higher order competencies geographically isolated school district in Alaska to are defined, but curriculum is not completely develop an outcome-based curriculum for preschool redesigned. In a third level, transformational OBE, through 12th grade. In 1986, the new assistant curriculum development begins after the outcomes superintendent for instruction introduced the idea of are defined in terms of what a person should do or a district-wide outcome-based curriculum. The first know. Uses of OBE in various school districts are curricular area selected for development was a described. OBE is gaining acceptance at a time when preschool program. Over the course of 5 years, school reform is a national priority. The OBE mission programs for the remaining grade levels were focuses on what students are able to do. Some developed. Committee members included teachers, limitations of OBE, and some of the political community members and parents, and school board influences that characterize knowledge production members. The assistant superintendent served as are reviewed. Successful OBE depends on a careful the facilitator and resource person. The committees examination of the politics of curriculum were trained to use the systems approach to the development and the role teachers will assume. development of an outcome-based curriculum. This (SLD) consisted of describing and explaining the idea of an outcome-based curriculum and training members to AN: ED357457 write learner outcomes in behavioral terms. The AU: McNeir,-Gwennis body of knowledge to be covered in a subject area Tt: Outcomes -Based Education: Tool for was divided into major categories of areas called Rasiructuring. strands. Each strand was then divided into CS: Oregon School Study Council, Eugene. supporting areas called topics. The learner outcomes PY: 1993 were vertically articulated throughout the curriculum JN: OSSC-Bulletin; v36 n8 Apr 1993 moving sequentially from one grade level to the next. AV: Publication Sales, Oregon School Study Council, Implementation of the curriculum was effective Urevercity of Oregon, 1787 Agate Street, Eugene, because participating teachers felt a sense of OR 97403 ($7 prepaid; 92.60 postage and handling ownership in the curriculum and the committees on billed orders). provided inservice workshops to the other teachers. NT: 36 p. This type of curriculum development project requires PR: EDRS Price - MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. time and money. (KS) AB: Traditional approaches to education use the level of ir,puts as a measure of effectiveness. Outcomes-baccd education (OBE) is based on the concept that educational success should be measured by what students learn, rather than by what they are taught. As a systems-level restructurine tool, OBE calls for success for all students, not just academic or vocational success, but success as well-rounded human beings. Since OBE has developed from several sources, it does not have one single authoritative model. Basic principles form the foundation of OBE: a clear focus on outcomes, expanded opportunity and instructional support, and high expectations for learning success. Views differ on whether OBE is revolutionary in education or merely a repackaging of old methods. School districts adopting OBE must fully commit to it in spirit and in practice, and staff must abandon established methods and procedures. Outcomes also must not be confused with subject areas, and goals cannot be too narrowly defined. In the classroom, teachers must balance concerns about content and process, and develop new assessment tools. As found in several Oregon schools, OBE ccn be Implemented gradually, but must Involve all members

86 Hot Topic Guido 66 Bibliography 7