Notes On Outcome-Based

Education

Dr. William G. Spady, Outcome-Based

Education: Critical Issues and Answers

Outcomes-Based Education means clearly

focusing and organizing everything in an
educational system around what is essential for all
students to be able to do successfully at the end of
their learning. This means starting with a clear
picture of what is important for students to be able
to do, then organizing curriculum, instruction, and
assessment to make sure this learning ultimately
happens.

Spady: The Keys to Having an OBE

System

Developing a clear set of learning outcomes

around which all of the systemss components can
be focused.

Establishing the conditions and opportunities

within the system that enable and encourage all
students to achieve those essential outcomes.

Outcomes are clear

learning results that
we want students to
demonstrate at the
end of significant
learning
experiences.
They are not
values, beliefs,
attitudes, or
psychological states
of mind.

Outcomes are
what learners can
actually do with
what they know
and have learned.
Outcomes are actions
and performances that
embody and reflect
learner competence in
using content,
information, ideas, and
tools successfully.

(A)ctual doing, rather than just

knowing.

Defined according to the

actions and demonstration
processes sought.

Outcomes?

Tangible and Observable

Application.
Uses demonstration verbs in
outcome statements.

Staked or defined
by a community.

Often uses the term Exit Outcome,

seeking the notion of an ultimate
result applied to the end of the
students career in school.

From the DepEd K-12 Tool Kit, p. 11

From the DepEd K-12 Tool Kit, p. 11

Exit Outcomes, based

on the K-12
Framework

Spady on Establishing Frameworks

Before basing a system on outcomes, states and

districts must establish a clear framework of
learning that students will be able to master
successfully at the culminating point in their
schooling careerswhat was just referred to as
exit outcomes. Then, districts must proceed to
define, organize, structure, focus, and operate
their activities based on those culminating
outcomes.

OBE in History

Apprenticeships and training forms and models over the

centuries.

Contemporary forms: technical training programs in the military,

flight schools, ski schools, karate instruction, scuba instruction,
and other area(s) of learning where clearly defined competence
and performance are essential or carrying out a role effectively.

Other forms of what Spady calls performance credentialing:

professional licensure of doctors, lawyers, real estate brokers,
and cosmetologists, as well as merit and honor badges for Boy
and Girl Scouts.

All share two key things, as per Spady: First, each model is
focused on a clearly defined performance result for learners that
is not compromised. Second, in each example, WHAT and
WHETHER students learn successfully is more important than
WHEN and HOW they learn it.

OBE Negotiating with Time

Lets review Spady: Second, in each example, WHAT

and WHETHER students learn successfully is more
important than WHEN and HOW they learn it.

What do we do with our time-bound (school year,

quarter) requirements? Shady responds this way: If
time and accomplishments dont mesh, then the term
outcome-based directly implies that out-comes
must take precedence over time.

For sharing among triads: How do we negotiate

with this in our own practices?

Spadys OBE in a Nutshell

Outcome-based systems build everything on a clearly

defined framework of exit outcomes.

Time in an outcome-based system is used as an

alterable resource, depending on the needs of the
teachers and students.

In an outcome-based system, standards are clearly

defined, known, and criterion-based for all students.

Outcome-based systems focus on increasing students

learning and ultimate performance abilities to highest
possible levels before they leave school.

The OBE Pyramid: Key Elements to

A Sound Approach

Paradigm

Define
outcomes

Design
Curriculum

Deliver
Instruction

Document
Results

Determine
Advancement

Purposes

Premises

Principles

Practices

The OBE Paradigm

Implicit in the OBE paradigm is the desire to

have all students emerge from the system as
genuinely successful learners.

The OBE Purposes

Ensuring that all students are equipped with the

knowledge, competence, and qualities needed to
be (successful) after they exit the educational
system.

Structuring and operating schools so that those

outcomes can be achieved and maximized for all
students.

The OBE Premises

All Students can learn and succeed, but not on

the same day (and) in the same way.

Successful learning promoties even more

successful learning.

Schools control the conditions that directly affect

successful school learning.

The OBE Principles

Clarity of Focus on Culminating Exit Outcomes of

Significance

Expanded Opportunity and Support for Learning

and Success

High Expectations for All to Succeed

Design down from Your Ultimate Culminating

Outcomes.

Clarity of Focus

Guides instructional planning and delivery;

provides a clear picture of learning and prioritizes
student success.

It is the starting point of curriculum, instruction, and

assessment planning and implementation.

The idea of no surprises: instruction and

assessment are transparent.

Varies from teacher to teacher, but focus is found in

some minimum standard requirements.

Expanded Opportunity

Gives students more than one chance to learn and demonstrate

learning.

Time: concerns amount, frequency, and eligibility of learning

dispensation.

Modalities: determines learning styles and approaches for varied

learners.

Operations: related to the adherence to the Principles of OBE.

Performance Standards: provision of processes that enable learning;

the use of criteria.

Curriculum Access: how the learning structure is rationalized and

arranged.

High Expectations

Increasing the level of challenge to which students are

exposed and raising the standard of acceptable performance
(in order) for them to be called finished or successful.

Raising Standards of Acceptable Performance: Students

are held to higher minimum standard than ever before.

Eliminating Success Quotas: Shifting from bell-curves or

quota grades to criterion-based systems.

Increasing Access to High-Level Curriculum: eliminating

low-level courses, programs, or learning groups from the
curriculum.

Design Down

Beginning with the end in mind; mapping back.

Structuring Your OBE

Arranging competencies based on KSA

knowledge, attitudes, and skills. These make up
your learning outcomes, and are primarily taken
from verbs formulated in Blooms Taxonomy.