"Creating a Place in History" (Decker) discusses the evolution of tech prep and the challenges it offers to secondary and postsecondary schools. "Tech Prep for Business and Marketing Technology" (Butler) describes tech prep in Arkansas. (JOW)

Examines mathematics courses offered during the 1980s' educational reform in response to increased course requirements and competency testing. Schools increased numbers of courses, but they were primarily low level. Reforms rarely affected middle- and upper-level achievers but significantly affected at-risk students. Increased testing requirements…

A description is provided of the Automated Manufacturing/Robotics program to be offered at Delaware County Community College beginning in September 1984. Section I provides information on the use of reprogramable industrial robots in manufacturing and the rapid changes in production that can be effected through the application of automated…

Legislation dealing with competency testing in general falls into the following categories: (1) mandating uniform statewide minimum competency testing, to which high school diplomas and/or grade promotion is related; (2) mandating uniform statewide minimum competency testing to be used for improvement of instruction but not tied to grade promotion…

Productive changes in schooling throughout the 1980s are contingent on emphasis being placed on school effectiveness rather than on curriculum adjustments. Today's curriculum sprawl, caused by the state and federal legislatures' penchant for creating courses to cure newly-emerging social ills, must not deplete resources that should be directed…

Fear of poor teaching and low national test scores have spawned a back to basics movement and a shift from the use of tests as predictors and models to that of assessment and achievement. This movement may have positive impact on the teaching of English, which previously has not lent itself well to standardized testing. Although many English…

The Minimum Requirement Program (MRP) was introduced in Israel in the 1960s but was discontinued. The Parenthesis Program, a 1962 revision of the original program, restricted objectives in the syllabus which were deemed too difficult. Achievement gaps between population subgroups existed in the 1980s when a new MRP was developed. (GDC)

Text from a speech delivered by the past president of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development declares that a liberating education offers students abundant knowledge, that content by itself does not liberate individuals, and that individuals employ knowledge in their own liberation. (MLF)

Detroit's minimum competency testing program focuses on improving basic skills instruction. Using test results as indicators of areas of weakness and strength in 12 subjects, teachers have a better understanding of the learning tasks and subskills needed for mastery. (WD)

A survey of 300 family and consumer sciences (FCS) professionals in North Carolina received 140 responses that rated the importance of teacher competencies in textiles and clothing instruction. Clothing construction ranked highest. Results informed the work of a committee revising FCS curriculum. (JOW)

Points out the need for improving the nation's higher education curricula. Offers reasons for supporting a core curriculum and describes difficulties in developing such a program. Provides a summary of the National Endowment for the Humanities' report "50 Hours: A Core Curriculum for College Students." (KO)

Developing A CurriculUM (DACUM) is an approach to job/occupational analysis. The profile chart that results from DACUM analysis is a low-cost, effective method of quickly determining what tasks must be performed by employees in a given job or occupational area. The DACUM analysis can be used as a basis for the following: curriculum development;…

In relating foundation program objectives established by the Department of Education to classroom instruction, this paper identifies performance expectations for 21 subjects in grades 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12. These grades were chosen because they represent critical points in major stages of human development. The performance expectations are clustered…

This study was undertaken to design a biology training program for secondary school teachers in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. The methods reported in this study included an analysis of the current biology training programs with reference to a set of biology objectives developed in the 1970 curriculum revision. Second, modern developments in…

Galveston College (Texas) adapted a strategic planning approach in revising curriculum to identify current use and future demands for microcomputer competencies for students in selected vocational programs. Their strategic planning relied on external and internal scanning to determine the relationship of such competencies to future job…