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Thank you for volunteering to work on the curriculum for a Basic Level Inspector. We define “basic” as the competency level required for the inspector to operate without direct supervision. In this work, we are moving to an outcome based approach for setting educational standards and away from a textbook approach. The outcome approach is widely used in primary and secondary education and in the training of many professionals. Under this model we focus on the outcomes and use these to describe the organization and coverage of the training course. The course materials become a means to an end rather than the end itself. The approach encourages innovation and creativity because it does not limit the trainer to a specific textbook or course presentation. The outcomes and milestones in the curriculum also will directly drive the certification program.

The curriculum lists the outcomes in terms of the specific knowledge and skills we expect the basic inspector to possess at the end of the training. Each outcome will be further defined by a set of milestones, or competencies, that specify the activities and tasks that will be used to measure the student’s mastery of the knowledge and skills. i.e outcomes. The milestones must specify a single, clear objective, stating what the student will be able to do after the training. Milestones must be measurable and should lead to obvious test questions. Your task is to create the curriculum for a small segment of our profession.

Since many groups will be working on selected pieces of the overall curriculum, the Committee has selected a format for the curriculum materials from the NCWM Core Competency Model based on work of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants (CACPA). In their publication, The California Core Competency Model for the First Course in Accounting, they provide a model accounting curriculum, a discussion of their methodology, and the rationale for using that methodology. Before beginning your work, we strongly recommend you read the short introduction to the NCWM Core Competency Model and if you would like a copy of the CACPA, we will be happy to send that to you as well. This common format will ensure that the pieces that get developed mesh together without extensive reformatting and editing.

The Committee is also asking that you review the NCWM Sample Curriculum. These serve as a Weights and Measures example of the format we want to use and were prepared using the CACPA model. These segments also demonstrate the level of detail we want to see in the final product. As in the NCWM Core Competency model document, our goal is to set standards rather than create a “lesson plan.”

Please note the layered approach used in the small scale materials and how this limits redundancy in the curriculum. The first segment on general device inspection should be considered a prerequisite for the second segment on basic scales. Both are prerequisites for the segment on small capacity scales. The first segment is also a prerequisite for any other measuring device area. For some devices, like timing devices, only one layer below this first layer is necessary. For liquid measuring devices, we would expect there to be two layers, a general layer that applies to all dynamic volume measuring and then a number of specific disciplines below that. Above all of these is a much broader segment that will include state and local laws and regulations, administrative procedures, enforcement policies, etc that need not be included with each specific device segment.

Your task will be to identify the outcomes and the milestones that are pertinent to the area of Weights and Measures you chose to work on. We suggest a process that involves the following steps:

1. Brainstorm – Create a bullet list of knowledge and skills expected. Ask simple questions. What should the inspector know? What should the inspector understand? What should the inspector be able to do?
2. Group the bullets to define a broad outcome. For a device segment consider groupings like; technology and terminology, classification and performance standards, markings and operational controls, technical requirements, user requirements, and test procedures. As a guideline, you should aim to have three to eight milestones under each outcome.
3. Create a concise outcome statement for each outcome. See Outcomes and Competencies of the NCWM Core Competency Model and NCWM Sample Curriculum.
4. Group similar milestones to the extent practical into a broader category. For example, instead of listing expectations for use of zero, tare, units buttons, state a single expectation regarding typical controls on the device and consider listing specific controls parenthetically.
5. Create a milestone statement, i.e. competency, using a verb from the list based on the levels of cognitive learning in Bloom’s Taxonomy in Inventory of Concrete Verbs. For the basic inspector we recommend you limit your milestones primarily to the first three levels, i.e. knowledge, understanding, and application. The higher levels of learning in Bloom’s Taxonomy, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, typically require practical experience not expected in the basic inspector.

In Bloom’s Taxonomy,

• Knowledge refers to the ability to recall facts, terms and basic concepts.
• Understanding refers to the ability to interpret or explain concepts using your own words.
• Application refers to the ability to put knowledge/understanding to practical use and demonstrate skills required to actually perform specific acts.

As an added challenge to our work groups, we are asking you to draft sample test questions for your milestones. Please note that there is a tendency to focus only on knowledge in the typical multiple-choice question. Please try to also write questions that evaluate understanding and require application of knowledge. For these you might want to consider putting the candidate in a situation and asking specific questions that require multiple steps to achieve an answer. In these cases fill in the blank format may be superior to multiple choice. In addition to getting the answer also consider asking the student to cite the specific code reference.

As a curriculum segment draft is completed, the Committee will do a quick review and suggest editing for uniformity of format. When it is ready, we will circulate the draft for review and comment. The critical questions we will ask are: What is missing from this curriculum segment and what should be removed or moved to another segment in another level? With this review process we hope to build a consensus of agreement on the standards being set. The same would apply to sample questions.

By using NCWM Competency Guide Model, NCWM Curriculum Template and NCWM Sample Curriculum, it should guide you through writing your curriculum so that the National Training Program will be uniform throughout all the courses. The Guide to Developing Test Questions will guide you through writing the ten certification questions on the subject you have chosen.

The Committee greatly appreciates your willingness to contribute to this project.

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