Dr. Deborah Bingham Catri
Good evening! My name is Dr. Deborah Bingham Catri. I am here this evening to provide expert testimony about competency-based education (CBE). My background provides 25 years of experience in education with a combination of secondary and higher education teaching, a bachelor of science in vocational education, Masters Degree in Education in curriculum development with emphasis in career education, and a Ph.D. in educational administration with emphasis in marketing educational institutions. My current position at The Ohio State University is director of the Vocational Instructional Materials Laboratory, a research and development laboratory with primary emphasis in development of research-based competency-based curriculum and assessment products.
My remarks this evening will
The Need for Change
The first widely acknowledged state-of-the-art report on CBE (Elam, 1971) states that in the United States at the beginning of the seventies CBE was by no means a full-fledged movement. By the late 1970's a widespread movement by many institutions in many states had been implemented to reform and improve educational programs.
What had brought about the need for change, especially change of such magnitude? Let us consider some of the characteristics of most traditional education programs that suggest a need for change. Most programs have historically been based on time and credit hours rather than competency or performance-based. Students were certified after completing a certain number of professional education courses, spread out over one or more semesters or quarters of education.
In many cases, inadequate attention has been given to diagnosing the level of ability and the specific needs of students entering the program. In some cases, this has been at least partly due to the fact that these students were all going to be enrolled in the same required courses anyway.
Courses offered to our students have often been only vaguely described in paragraphs prepared for inclusion in the college catalog. In recent years, because of the emphasis on behavioral objectives, more attention has been given to stating the general goals and/or objective of many courses in more specific terms.
The student work-site learning experience has probably been the greatest strength of traditional occupational preparation programs because it provided students with actual field experience. A shortcoming of many work-site learning experiences, however, has been the frequent failure to provide the adequate structure and purpose for the experience, and/or provide adequate guidance during and after the work-site learning experience.
The assessment of student performance has been almost entirely norm-referenced. Most traditional programs have considered a student's grade point average-generally derived on the basis of a few written exams, term papers, and perhaps a few subjective field observations-the basis for assessment.
Few traditional education programs have specified and made public in advance what prospective students were expected to be able to accomplish. Nor have they specified objectively the criteria to be used to assess the student's performance in work situations.
Impetus for Change Toward CBE
In 1957, Russia launched Sputnik 1. The fact that Russians beat the U.S. into space aroused the concerns of many Americans who began to seriously doubt the quality of our educational system. Consequently, the federal government began to allocate money for experimental programs in education.
One result was passage of the National Defense Education Act of 1958 which provided support for greatly expanding the development of area vocational education programs. Its major purpose was the training of "highly skilled technicians in recognized occupations requiring scientific knowledge ... in fields necessary for the national defense." Other significant events which occurred which helped lay the groundwork for competency-based education included enactment of the Vocational Education Act of 1963, Higher Education Facilities Act of 1963, Mager's (1962) proposed evaluation procedure whereby students would be asked to perform activities described in behavioral terms, and McGehee and Thayer (1961) Fryklund (1965), and Ammerman and Melching (1 966) on occupational analysis and task analysis techniques.
By 1972 (Schmieder and McNeely, 1975), 17 states had mandated the competency-based approach as a new or alternative system for education and teacher certification, and 15 other states were considering similar action. At the same time many colleges and universities began research and development efforts in the area of competency-based education. The need had been established, and extensive work toward the improvement of education programs was underway.
Today CBE is very much a reality in the United States and most of Canada. Some states have policies requiring the adoption of CBE curricula in state-aided institutions and many state authorities see CBE as the primary means of providing more effective education and training for youth and adults alike (Watson, 1990). Courses offered by the CBE mode range from standard two-year technician level associate degree and trade level courses to short entry level skills training courses. They also include academic upgrading and basic adult education courses. Students in the courses include school leavers seeking vocational qualifications, young unemployed adults seeking job skills as well as older students seeking updating and training.
Important Definitions
The greatest area of disagreement concerns the relative merit of the phrases performance-based education and competency-based education. Proponents of CBE believe the word 'performance', with its connotation of physical activity, minimizes the importance of professional knowledge and the conceptualization and planning which may not be visible when a student 'performs' in the workplace. They believe the term 'performance' is too narrow, that it may encourage mimicry and superficial role-playing rather than the solid professional insight and ability which enable a worker to cope with novel situations.
Proponents of PBE counter that for many persons the term 'competency' connotes emphasis upon knowledge rather than practice and hence is likewise too narrow. They feel that the current movement is in significant part a reaction against programs which turned out students who were competent in the sense they could maintain a high grade point average or do well on oral exams but could not in fact perform well in the practical work situation.
This conflict can be reconciled by recognizing that if one is pressed to define his terms, both concepts are necessary. Those who prefer PBE do not claim that education should be based on just any performance but on competent performance. 'Competence' is understood, taken for granted. PBE really means (C)PBE. Likewise those who prefer CBE are not talking about competence in a limited pedantic sense but competence in work performance. In this case "performance" is understood, taken for granted. CBE really means C(P)BE.
As one talks to proponents of competency-based and performance-based education terminology, it becomes abundantly clear that they refer to the same movement. Advocates of performance-based terminology refer to the way in which workers demonstrate knowledge and skills. That demonstration is observable. Competency-based emphasizes a minimum standard; it adds criterion-levels. CBE advocates note three levels for criteria-cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. CBE stresses performance in an actual work situation that are based on identified competencies and students must achieve a minimum level of competency based on specified criteria. Hermann makes the important distinction that a competency does not imply perfection: "it implies performance at a stated level or criterion (which) needs to be specific for each occupational area" (1 990, p. 46).
Norton and Huaan (1 996) define competency in a very general way as follows: 'competency refers to achievement of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to perform a given task." The key aspect of this and most other definitions of competency is the recognition that all three learning domains-the affective, the cognitive, and the psychomotor-are involved.
Finn (1990) believes that history is going to view the final third of this century as a time when the very meaning of education was recast in the United States. Under the old conception, Finn speculates, education was thought of as a "process and system, effort and intention, investment and hope." To improve education meant to try harder, to engage in more activity, to give people more services, and to become more efficient in delivering them. Under the new definition which is "now trying to be born," according to Finn, education is the result achieved, the learning that takes place when the process has been effective. Only if the process succeeds and learning occurs will we say that "education" happened. "Absent evidence of such a result, there is no education, regardless of how many attempts have been made, resources deployed, or energies expended."
Finn illustrates this shift from an emphasis on educational inputs to results by providing the following futuristic scenario.
I suggest that people who visited the average classroom in 1960 took for granted that they were observing education in process. I predict that, by the year 201 0 or thereabouts, people in similar situations will not automatically assume that what they are seeing is education, even though efforts are plainly underway that are intended to result in it. Only when evidence can be produced that learning is truly taking place will these future visitors conclude that what they observed can correctly be termed "education."
Essential Defining Characteristics of Competency-Based Education Programs
A competency-based education program is competency-based if-
Advantages of CBE
Common Limitations of CBE
Analysis of the Current CPM Process to Competency-Based Education
TABLE A
| CBE Defining Characteristics | CPM Process Component |
|---|---|
| Competencies to be demonstrated by the student are role-relevant competencies determined through job analysis | 1995 Job Analysis of the Role of Direct-Entry Midwives-Developed through a strong, research-based job analysis process; the analysis serves to identify knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to perform as a Direct-Entry Midwife; Accreditation of Direct Entry Midwifery Education Programs Standards published by the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council require under standard two that "curriculum is consistent with the current MANA Midwifery Core Competencies and NARM Certification" |
| Criteria to be employed in assessing competencies are explicit in stating levels of mastery (standards) under specified conditions | Core competencies were defined for a "minimally proficient" direct entry midwife through panel discussions with subject matter experts during the job analysis process. |
| Competencies are specified to students prior to instruction | Clear documentation of competencies are provided from two sources: Candidate Information Bulletin published by The North American Registry of Midwives and Practical Skills Guide for Midwifery authored by Pam Weaver and Sharon K. Evans and published by Morningstar Publishing Company |
| Criterion-referenced measures are used to measure the achievement of competencies. | CPM examination program includes cognitive and performance assessment and is clearly criterion referenced back to the 1995 Job Analysis of the Role of Direct Entry Midwives. |
| A system exists for documenting the competencies achieved by each student. | Documentation of competency attainment begins with the preceptor/supervisor/mentor verification which requires sign of through a notarized form for each competency; Earns a national certificate as a CPM by passing the national CPM examination; Narrative reports are given to unsuccessful exam candidates which list areas of strengths to weaknesses. |
Summary Comments
The Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) program to establish that practitioners possess the minimum competencies necessary to practice, in my opinion, clearly exhibits all the required characteristics of a competency-based program. Regardless of the educational pathway chosen-apprenticeship, postsecondary education, adult education, at-a-distance education, or a selfpaced program student competency attainment remains the objective. The assessment component of the program provides evidence that successful passage of the national CPM exam ensures that minimum competence has been attained.
References
Ammerman, Harry L. and William H. Melching. "The Derivation Analysis and Classification of Instructional Objectives." Fort Bliss, TX: Human Resources Research Office (HumRRO), 1966.
Elam, Stanley. Performance-Based Teacher Education: What Is the State of the Art? PBTE Mongraph Series: No. 1. Washington, DD: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 1971.
Finn, Chester E. The Biggest Reform of All. Phi Delta Kappan, 71, (April 1990): 584-592.
Fryklund, Veme C. Analysis Technique for Instructors. Milwaukee, WI: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1965.
Mager, Robert F. Preparing Instructional Objectives. Belmont, CA: Fearon Publishers, 1962.
McGehee, William and Paul W. Thayer. Training in Business and Industry. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1961.
Norton, Robert E. and May w. Huang. Student Guide to Using Performance Based Teacher Education Materials. Athens, GA: American Association for Vocational Instructional Materials (AVVIM), 1996.
Schmieder, Allen and Margaret McNeely. "Competency Based Education in Fields Other than Teacher Education." Washington, DC: U.S. Office of Education, Division of Educational Systems Development, and the National Consortium of CBE Centers, 1975.
Watson, Anthony. Competency Based Education and Self-Paced Learning. Monograph Series: Technology University, Sydney, Australia, 1990.
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