Core Competency Model
October 2007
The National Conference on Weights and Measures Professional Development Committee (PDC) is proud to present this NCWM Core Competency Model for use in creating the curriculum for the NCWM National Training Program.
The idea for this model began with a grassroots movement of weights and measures educators who wanted to reverse a deteriorating articulation process for the modules in weights and measures.
The model presented here is the result of efforts of PDC committee members and has made extensive use of the California Core Competency Model for the First Course in Accounting. That model was developed by the California Society of CPA’s Committee on Accounting Education and was released in July 1995. The competency based concept and format for our curriculum is taken almost verbatim from that work.
The hours of time volunteered for this project is an impressive example of professional volunteerism at its best. Even more impressive is the fact that when conflicts arose, committee members searched for creative solutions that would meet the needs of more than one point of view. Clearly, weights and measures educators consistently subordinated their individual views of the course to the greater good-in-the long-run improvement of education.
If you are a weights and measures educator, you are urged to share this model with your faculty and help improve weights and measures education. We hope this model will help you to facilitate your weights and measures training.
The Mission of the Professional Development Committee
The mission of this Committee is to improve the quality of education. Since the state jurisdictions are such an integral part of the weights and measures education, our mission is to help prepare an outline for you to use in your endeavors.
Accomplishing Our Mission
We have accomplished our mission by identifying expected student outcomes and core competencies as a basis for articulation agreements. The diversity of emerging instructional models for weights and measures has made the process of articulation very difficult. To reduce the severity of this problem requires a dramatic change in how course equivalencies between states are measured. It is, therefore, proposed that the basis for articulation agreements shift from the current textbook/topic approach to one that focuses on identifying desirable outcomes students should achieve and core competencies that measure their achievement.
General Philosophy About How To Use This Model
Identifying outcomes and core competencies is an important step in the process of improving weights and measures education. How training officers help students master these outcomes and competencies and how they simultaneously measure student mastery are equally important tasks.
Our intention is not to develop a "statewide lesson plan" for weights and measures. Instead, we want individual states to be creative in implementing the common set of outcomes and core competencies described in this model. Moreover, we hope each state program will develop a set of outcomes and special competencies that will reflect the unique perspective of its state and the special needs of its students.
Thus, our philosophy encourages diversity. Although we want students to attain the educational objectives of the weights and measures training program, we do not expect them to attain these objectives in a prescribed manner.
Milestones For Implementing Competency-Based Articulation
The intent of the Committee on Accounting Education is to promote the widespread acceptance of essential student outcomes and competencies, while encouraging individual programs to implement these outcomes and competencies in ways that best suit their own students. The following milestones are used to evaluate progress in implementing this competency-based articulation system:
Milestone 1: Derive expected student outcomes (knowledge and skills)
Milestone 2: Create core competencies (activities expressed in behavioral terms) that are logically derived from the expected student outcomes.
Milestone 3: Promote a competency-based articulation approach by conducting workshops for interested faculty on how to implement and assess core competencies.
Milestone 4: Establish acceptance of a single set of outcomes and core competencies.
Outcomes and Competencies
How Do You Distinguish An Outcome From A Competency?
An outcome is "what" you expect your students to achieve, whereas a competency demonstrates "how" your students can achieve that outcome. Think of an outcome as an end and a competency as a means to that end.
Outcomes are the knowledge and skills recommended. Competencies are the specific activities used to measure a student’s mastery of the knowledge/skills or outcomes.
The outcome/competency approach is different from the traditional textbook/ topic approach to accounting instruction. First, the choice of a textbook no longer dictates the organization and coverage of the course. Instead, the outcomes and competencies become the driver and the textbook becomes their vehicle. A related difference is that the course is driven by an output measure (outcomes / competencies) rather than an input measure (textbook/topics). Finally, students more clearly know the content they are expected to study and the precise activities they must perform on examinations and other forms of evaluation by studying the outcome/competency pairings and working problems that reflect them.
Characteristics of Well-Constructed Competencies
A well-constructed behavioral learning objective or competency has the following characteristics:
- it expresses one objective
- it is specific
- it states what the student will be able to do after the learning experience
- it uses a concrete verb to specify the desired activity that must be performed by the student to demonstrate competency
Inventory of Concrete Verbs Denoting Action Taken In Competencies
The following suggested verbs are arranged in the six cognitive domains identified in Bloom's Taxonomy. The model is a "living document." It will be re-evaluated annually to consider the evolving content.
| Knowledge | Comprehension | Application |
|
arrange - order define - recognize duplicate - relate label - recall list - repeat memorize - reproduce name |
classify - record describe - report discuss - restate explain - review express - select identify - tell indicate - translate |
apply - operate choose - practice demonstrate - schedule dramatize - sketch employ - solve engage - transfer illustrate - use interpret |
| Analysis | Synthesis | Evaluation |
|
analyze - differentiate appraise - discriminate calculate - distinguish categorize - examine compare - experiment contrast - inventory convert - question criticize - test diagram |
arrange - organize assemble - plan collect - prepare compose - present construct - propose create - setup design - suggest formulate - summarize justify - write manage |
appraise - evaluate argue - judge assess - predict attach - rate choose - score compare - select debate - support defend - value estimate |