Teaching for Competence

Book by Sullivan, Howard, Higgins, Norman

“We in Instructional Technology often lament that we do not seem to be having an impact in the public schools. Exposing preservice and inservice teachers to Teaching for Competence would be a very good first step to turning that around.”

―Educational Technology Research and Development

“This book on competency-based instruction (CBI) is organized around three topics: (1) teachers deciding what their students should learn; (2) teachers teaching it well; and (3) teachers checking to see if students have learned it. Chapter 1, "A Matter of Accomplishment," gives an overview of competency-based instruction. Chapter 2, "Worthwhile Objectives," deals with teachers deciding what content their students should learn. Chapter 3, "Effective Instruction," covers teaching that content well. Chapter 4, "Assessment," describes checking to see how well the students have learned what the teacher has taught. The second, third, and fourth chapters are organized similarly. In the beginning of each, there is a list of skills to be learned from the chapter, and the remainder of the chapter consists of information and short exercises to teach those skills. At the end of each chapter, a self test that measures how well the skills have been mastered is referred to. A final chapter, "Making CBI Work," explains how to put the whole system of objectives-instruction-assessment together. Included in appendices are suggestions for additional learning activities.”

―ERIC Institute of Education Sciences