While educational goals are usually described in very broad terms, educational objectives are the specific skills and behaviors that educators would like students to exhibit upon completion of a program or course. Objectives may also be referred to as desired competencies intended/desired learning outcomes, or performance criteria.

Palomba and Banta (1999, p. 36) argue that objectives should be stated using action verbs that describe student behavior, are not open to interpretation, and can be assessed. Educators can gain in assessment efficiency and quality by being more specific about their objectives.

References to specific sources of information about ways to establish specific objectives (or competencies or learning outcomes):

• AICPA (1999) provides suggested competencies for accounting education.
• Palomba and Banta (1999, pp. 26-37) describe how to develop objectives, including specification of varying degrees of complexity and identification of subskills.
• Gainen and Locatelli (1995, Chapter 7) describe how to translate goals into objectives in the context of accounting education.
• Angelo and Cross (1993, pp. 8-9, Chapter 4) discuss importance of course objectives. They also provide a process and examples for translating teaching goals into specific questions that can be evaluated through classroom assessment.
• Erwin (1991, Chapter 3) discusses and illustrates design of objectives for both course and non-course educational activities.
• AECC (1990) provides objectives for accounting education.
• AACSB The International Association for Management Education