A Resource Guide; "National and Regional Developments in Competency Based Teacher Education (CBTE) and Competency Based Certification (CBC)."

This resource guide on competency based teacher education (CBTE) and competency based certification (CBC) states that the degree of explicitness required in CBTE programs and CBC programs and CBC systems is greater than in traditional programs. A CBTE program must specify (a) what the learner is to do, (b) the degree or level of competency expected, and (c) evaluation procedures. The reasons for CBTE growth are then listed as (a) growing pressure for accountability, (b) increasing focus of political action on fiscal issues, (c) the management organization movement, (d) growing stress on individualization, (e) the desire of state education departments to develop more effective certification and standards, and (f) the continued investment of federal funds in CBC. The report points out that certification standards may be changed because of the change in teacher education programs toward CBTE. A key issue in developing CBC systems, according to this report, is whether certification is controlled by state education departments or local school districts. The report states that the two main issues involved in control are the establishment of competencies, and the establishment and operation of evaluation criteria and procedures. It is noted that while there have been many alternatives used in establishing competencies, little has occurred in the area of evaluating competencies. The remainder of this guide presents a list of some of the most comprehensive CBTE module series and an annotated list of materials on CBTE-CBC. (MK)