Definition
Performance-based learning objectives that state precisely what the student must be able to do, under what conditions, and to what standard, in order to be considered competent at a given task. They define the measurable outcome an instructor uses to judge whether training has been successful.
Plain English
Clear, written goals that spell out exactly what a student must do, the situation they must do it in, and how well they must do it. They are the yardstick the instructor uses to decide if the student has actually learned the skill.
Context Anchor
Used by aviation instructors when planning lessons, choosing assessment methods, and deciding whether a student has met the required standard.
Derivation
Criterion comes from the Greek 'kriterion,' meaning a standard for judging. Pairing it with 'objective' (a goal to be reached) gives the sense of a goal that includes the standard for judging whether it has been met.
Why Pilots Care
Helps instructors and students focus training on meeting concrete FAA standards instead of subjective opinions about readiness.
Intuition Check
Do not read criterion objectives as just broad hopes or lesson topics. In this context, they are measurable targets with a stated standard for acceptable performance.
Example Sentence 1
The instructor wrote a criterion objective stating that the student must perform a normal landing within 400 feet of a designated point, with no more than 10 knots of crosswind, on the first attempt.
Example Sentence 2
Before the lesson, the CFI reviewed the criterion objectives to confirm the preflight briefing met every checklist item exactly.