Competency Based Learning — Define, Test, and Communicate to Make It Work
The most important outcome for every student is that they fully grasp learning concepts and topics before they move forward. Thus, the idea behind competency based learning (CBE) of allowing students to progress at a pace appropriate to how they master learning concepts versus pushing them through a time driven curriculum schedule makes complete sense. However, given the complexities of our K-12 education system, it’s still early days in the formulation of CBE approaches that can work for both students and schools.
An Edsurge overview written by Tony Wan defines CBE simply as “a system in which students progress based on their demonstration of mastery of a certain concept or skill”. In 2011, a more rigorous definition of CBE was constructed by CompetencyWorks and iNACOL (the International Association for K-12 Online Learning) that lays out a number of important criteria to measure CBE:
Students advance upon demonstrated mastery;
Competencies include explicit, measurable, transferable learning objectives that empower students;
Assessment is meaningful and a positive learning experience for students;
Students receive timely, differentiated support based on their individual learning needs, and
Learning outcomes emphasize competencies that include application and creation of knowledge, along with the development of important skills and dispositions.
Whew! That’s quite a definition. I imagine a list like this makes it pretty challenging for teachers and school leaders to figure out how to instrument a learning paradigm that hits all those beats while simultaneously fitting a specified amount of learning and standardized testing into the limited window afforded each school year.
We all know from personal learning experiences that competencies come at different paces. Some of us cruised through algebra, geometry, pre-calculus and maybe even calculus in high school, while some of our friends (who today are quite successful by the way) barely clawed their way through geometry and/or pre-calc. Enabling students to traverse their education at a pace that works for them while ensuring that they meet important competencies that set them up for their path beyond high school is a laudable goal.
As with any significant change, it’s best to start small and build from there. Three important elements stand out as we continue to define what competency based learning means.
First, it’s important to find alignment around how we define the important competencies or skills that every student needs to have mastered before they finish 12th grade. While this may not mean calculus for everyone, we are rapidly advancing towards a vastly different work environment and therefore our kids must be critical thinkers, facile with data and statistics, socially engaging and competent, and above all else, gritty and tenacious in how they pursue their chosen professions. It would be a major accomplishment to see a “rubric of competencies” that could be adopted by all 50 states so that every graduating student left high school with the same tool kit of competencies, even if some of them took a bit longer to get there.
Second, ExcelinEd’s recent “Policy, Pilots, and the Path to Competency-based Education: A National Landscape” report argues the important point that since we are in the early phase of CBE, we need to apply good old fashioned innovation to understanding what will work best here. According to ExcelinEd’s study, fewer than ten states have specific competency-based education pilot programs, but when we include states that have initiated general innovation programs or funds, almost half the states in the U.S. are working on initiatives specifically tied to CBE. That’s a pretty good start. It will most certainly take many years of testing and learning through these types of pilots and programs for us to see which approaches are both most effective and most scalable within the context of our current K-12 ecosystem.
Finally, we need to ensure that these competency-based education pilots and test programs are constructed in a way that allows all participants to share their experiences — good and not so good. This means that digital communication must be threaded throughout these pilots and programs. Again, the ExcelinEd study notes that “several existing state pilots included a requirement that LEAs [local education agencies] participating in pilots develop a communications and engagement plan as part of their effort.” The study highlights three specific examples worth following in the coming years:
Florida’s competency-based education pilot requires participating LEAs to include in their applications a communications plan for parents and other stakeholders, including local business and community members
Idaho’s mastery-based education “incubator sites” pilot requires participating LEAs to develop local outreach plans
Utah’s Competency-Based Grants program requires LEA grantees to communicate and promote their plans to parents, teachers and members of the community
It is promising to see the emerging focus on competency-based learning, and the investments many states are making to pilot programs that open up this approach to learning for many K-12 students. At the same time, it’s clear that this transition will create stresses on already stressed teachers and school leaders so we must be cognizant of how introducing CBE can be done in conjunction with the proper supports for our educators. Opening the lines of communication between teachers, students, parents, and administrators as the ExcelinEd study highlights will be crucial to driving a successful outcome of any version of competency-based learning.
Originally published on Medium on May 30, 2017. This Substack version is maintained as the canonical archive.