Because pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) includes teachers' understanding of how students learn, or fail to learn, specific subject matter, the development of PCK is an important goal to focus on in professional development programs. The research literature clearly indicates the complex nature of PCK as a form of teachers' professional…

Ending educational inequality requires not only an army of teachers who do whatever it takes to overcome the challenges facing children in low-income communities but also an army of leaders, working both in and outside school, who will change our inequitable system. Teach for America's mission is to help build this force. The organization's…

A former Teach for America recruit who completed her training in a university-based program compares the two approaches to teacher preparation. In Teach for America, she learned how to design units and prepare lesson plans; in her university-based program, she had the time to learn from master teachers and build valuable skills, then practice…

A recent UK survey found many graduates unprepared for employment while employers placed greater value on transferable, employability skills rather than on specific ones. Increased student entry into professional-oriented programs, and subsequent pressures on work placements, have educators looking to alternative ways of providing safe,…

This paper examines the underlying assumptions that competency-based frameworks are based upon in relation to leadership development. It examines the impetus for this framework becoming the prevailing theoretical base for developing leaders and tracks the historical path to this phenomenon. Research suggests that a competency-based framework may…

Gives specific recommendations for the effective use of behavioral objectives in planning, designing, delivering, and evaluating training. (SK)

The authors of this paper suggest that the increasing use of behavioral objectives in adult education is a symptom of a threatening economic and political climate; that behavioral objectives are incompatible with any new paradigm, any "new way of seeing," as represented by theories of andragogy and the concept of recurrent education.…

The author notes that before any training takes place, managers must know their responsibilities as advisors, coaches, reinforcers, and positive models. They must understand that, if they fail to fulfill those roles, their subordinate supervisors probably will not use their new skills on the job. (SSH)

The functional relation between feedback and improved writing of Individual Habilitation Plan objectives in four adult service agencies serving the retarded was assessed. The agencies improved the quality of their written objectives after receiving feedback from the case manager and maintained those gains 18 months after feedback was terminated.…

If management's motives are clearly aimed at improved performance for individual and organizational growth, and if the process is applied faithfully both in spirit and in action, a measurable return on investment is virtually guaranteed. Therefore, the author calls for an effort that would integrate the performance-evaluation process into an…

Goals of a prevocational program for deaf blind students (ages 3 to 21) are outlined. The goals are divided into six levels of developmental skills and range from the Level II (no specific goals have been provided for Level I students) skill, mobility to and from work with minimal assistance, to development of work tolerance to one day (6 hours).…

Discusses the necessity of relating needs assessment and needs analysis in performance management. Topics discussed include measurable objectives; the identification and selection of needs; performance improvement; the Organizational Elements Model (OEM), which helps to identify means and ends; and training requirements analysis. (eight…

Although learning can be defined in cognitive, affective, or behavioral terms, the specification of communication, planning, or evaluation skills in behavioral terms is most appropriate in management training. Learning objectives are most effectively reached in a closed rather than open loop learning design. In designs, the learner's reactions and…

This is the concluding part of an article published in the August 1983 edition. A number of arguments are developed to demonstrate the inadequacy of behaviorally defined objectives as a basis for curriculum planning. (SSH)

The United States Coast Guard uses training situation analysis (TSA) to develop quantified training requirements, collect training and non-training performance data, and overcome turf issues to focus on performance outcomes. Presents the 1947 MLB (Motor Lifeboat Project) as a case study. Outlines 11 steps in the TSA needs analysis for teams and…