Outcomes-based education: What is it?
“Education is the process in which we discover that learning adds quality to our lives. Learning must be experienced.”
–William Glasser, MD, The Quality School (1990)
Outcomes-based education (OBE) is a term that’s getting tossed around a lot these days, but not everyone knows exactly what it means. In a nutshell, outcomes-based education means an education system or process by which teaching and curricula are designed and delivered with reaching a specific, preconceived end-goal in mind. That end-goal can be any number of things — such as achieving a certain test score threshold, mastering certain skills and objectives, even qualifying for a job.
While outcomes-based education is a relatively new term, it is not necessarily a new concept. “Outcomes-based education has been part of education since the beginning of time,” says Mark Fontaine, MAT, EdD, who teaches in a public charter school (TIMES2 Academy, www.times2.org) in Providence, RI and is a graduate of University of Phoenix’s School of Advanced Studies. “You always have to start teaching with the end in mind, that’s not really a new idea. The difference now is, we tell the students what the end result should be.”
Indeed, outcomes-based educational theories have been around for at least a century, though they weren’t always called as such. The origins of modern outcomes-based education can be traced back to the work of Italian educator Maria Montessori, whose teaching theories shaped the development of Montessori schools the world over. Working in the early 1900s, Montessori believed that instead of setting up arbitrary grading systems, tests, and the like and teaching inputs based on them, education was best measured by encouraging individual student achievement, which can occur at different rates for different students. This method would allow students of different skill levels and abilities to learn at their own individual rates (or “outcomes”), rather than lumping all students together and measuring them at the same standard at the same point in time.
A revolutionary idea for its time, Montessori’s theories are still followed today, and have also influenced other educators, psychologists and theorists, including Jean Piaget, William Spady, William Glasser and Benjamin Bloom. While some of the specifics of these various theorists’ ideologies vary, their core ideal is the same: 1) that all students are capable of learning, just at different rates; and 2) traditional teaching methods do not adequately take individual student mastery and achievement rates into account.
Both educators and policymakers are using outcomes-based education theories to support current educational reform initiatives, ranging from standardized testing, pay-for-performance and accountability measurements for teachers, and even public school privatization efforts (such as the lottery-based charter schools described in the film "Waiting for 'Superman'"). Outcomes-based education (OBE) theories were also the basis for the federal No Child Left Behind policy, as well as numerous state educational assessment and testing programs. However, while OBE might have influenced all of these policies, that doesn’t mean that they actually represent how it should be implemented.
“The American educational system is looking for a one-size-fits-all approach to outcomes measurement, and that’s an error,” says Kevin Gazzara, DM, a member of University of Phoenix’s School of Business faculty, as well as a University of Phoenix School of Advanced Studies (SAS) alum.
An expert in organizational behavior as well as educational theory, Dr. Gazzara has first-hand experience with applying ideas learned in the classroom to real-world situations. “I’m a big supporter of outcomes-based education,” says Dr. Gazzara. “But there are basically two ideological ‘purist’ camps out there: the Montessori-type camp, which does not believe in grading, while the other camp believes in still using a traditional grading system with outcomes measurement.”
As with anything, outcomes-based education theory doesn’t always look like actual practice. “I don’t believe either ‘purist’ approach works,” says Dr. Gazzara. “My belief is that grading serves a significant purpose to give the students stretch goals; however current systems for grading do not measure the outcomes that the students need for success. I see the need for a hybrid system where the foundation is outcome-based, and those outcomes are then graded — and not just marked as done/not done.”
“I love action-based learning,” says Dr. Gazzara. “You learn the concept, you apply the concept, then applying the concept also tests the concept’s validity and value. I tell my students at University of Phoenix not to necessarily shoot for the best grade, but instead to master the concepts taught by integrating them into their own lives and work.” Dr. Gazzara even requires his students to take new concepts learned in one week’s class out into their “real” lives, then report back the following week with “success stories” of how they were able to apply the learning. “This is what I call application-based learning,” says Dr. Gazzara. “It makes the students more interested in the material. It becomes real. This is where many educators fail.”
Julie Donlon, MEd, EdD is Director of Instruction for Genesee Valley Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES, www.gvboces.org) near Rochester, NY and a graduate of University of Phoenix’s Educational Leadership doctoral program. Dr. Donlon and her colleagues provide a variety of administrative and curriculum development services to BOCES’ member school districts, including curriculum mapping services for alternative/special education and career & technical (i.e., vocational) education. Dr. Donlon believes career & technical education (C&T) especially lends itself to OBE concepts. “Our C&T programs align themselves well with outcomes-based education because we are training students to master industry standards set by state licensing requirements,” says Dr. Donlon. “Our students are studying things like auto body repair and cosmetology, where they have to pass a licensing exam in order to do those jobs. We build a two-year program that builds on prior knowledge. The end goal is to get those students actually working in the fields we’re training them for.”
While training for specific jobs and careers is a very practical outcome, Dr. Donlon also cautions that there can be less-tangible — but still beneficial — outcomes for C&T students besides training for and obtaining specific jobs. “Not all of our C&T students are long-term-goal oriented,” she says. “Sometimes, C&T programs are the only way to keep certain students engaged in any kind of education. Even if they don’t end up in the jobs we’re training them for, they’re still getting education that they might not have otherwise.”
Scott Hatfield is a former high school science teacher in Ohio who encountered several different interpretations of outcomes-based education during his teaching career (he now works in the private sector). “I strongly support many of the tenets of outcomes-based education,” he says. “I believe clearly defining and communicating from the outset what exactly students should know and be able to do by the end of a course, unit, or lesson is an important step for planning how best to effectively present content. That said, I believe many problems arise when such a system is implemented irrationally or inconsistently.”
An example of outcomes-based education theory applied irrationally could include No Child Left Behind, which educators and administrators across the nation have criticized as impractical, too stringent, and even detrimental to learning. While most American educators agree that No Child Left Behind needs to be reformed (if not scrapped altogether), not everyone agrees on how it should be accomplished.
While most American educators do agree that some kind of outcomes measurement is necessary, they caution it should be done carefully. “Outcomes measurement is only as good as the measures you use to get results,” says Dr. Mark Fontaine. “Teaching is a messy business. It’s not easy. The bottom line is, we need to set our expectations higher, because kids will rise to the level of our expectations.”
