A comprehensive outcomes-based strategy is essential to provoke the degree of systems change necessary to yield the results we desire. There are at least seven essential features of an outcomes based approach. First, one must examine the underlying assumptions that provide the lens through which one will identify the outcomes to be achieved. In education, two are crucial. The first is the assumption that all children can learn at very significantly higher levels.
Expectation becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The second assumption is that we know how to teach successfully children from all backgrounds to those significantly higher levels. Each of these areas is being defined in terms of indicators so that their attainment can be measured. The third essential feature of an outcomes-based system is that one must have assessment strategies that are as rich as the outcomes one wishes to achieve. Outcomes that cannot be or are not measured will soon become irrelevant. If high expectation outcomes such as knowledge application, thinking, problem solving and knowledge integration are to be emphasized assessment strategies such as performance based assessment, essays, portfolios, and student projects will become more prominent.