A Performance Curriculum and Learning Outcomes [microform] / Leonard F. Dalton

A performance curriculum communicates with students, teachers, administrators, counselors, and taxpayers. Its heart is a series of statements which explain in observable terms what the teacher will accept as evidence that what is to be learned has been learned. Such statements allow: true teacher-pupil understanding; individually diagnosed and prescribed instruction; limited credit offerings and course challenges; continuous-progress curriculum; public accountability; flexibility; teacher-designed staffing patterns; and criterion-referenced assessment. If a child fails to achieve an objective, then either the objective or the prescription is inappropriate. This does not mean that the teacher has failed, but that a new prescription is needed. It is analogous to a physician who, when the first prescription fails to cure the patient, prescribes a new medicine. What teachers want to accomplish with their students is generally hidden from everyone; a performance curriculum would solve this problem and provide teachers with greater support to deal with children as individuals. Students should tell their teachers that they want to know what will be accepted as observable evidence that a learning task has been performed. This document includes a performance curriculum format which explains key terms involved in such a curriculum. (DC)