This paper presents a positivist quantitative case study of four rural Queensland schools implementing the Queensland Studies Authority's outcomes based education curriculum. Queensland's school-based management system means that these schools are operating at distinctly different points along their implementation phase. This research shows how the QSA is yet to achieve an effective understanding of outcomes based education in the cluster schools. It establishes a relationship between successful implementation of an outcomes based education curriculum and an understanding of the curriculum's intended constructivist learning theory and pedagogy. (Contains 7 figures and 6 tables.)