Competency-Based Education: What It Is and How to Pull It Off
September 16, 2024
Schools in every state can now embrace competency-based education—awarding credit and diplomas based on students’ mastery of skills rather than seat time, recognizing learning that takes place outside the classroom, and incorporating more student-led projects into everyday instruction. But the shift to a model that can represent a radical departure from more than a century of tradition in K-12 schools is complicated and slow-going.
This special report offers a look inside a competency-based classroom, explores how schools have revamped grading for a system in which proficiency is the expectation for everyone, examines the successes and pitfalls schools encounter as they shift to competency-based education, and spotlights professional development to help teachers teach in a way they likely never experienced as students.
This special report offers a look inside a competency-based classroom, explores how schools have revamped grading for a system in which proficiency is the expectation for everyone, examines the successes and pitfalls schools encounter as they shift to competency-based education, and spotlights professional development to help teachers teach in a way they likely never experienced as students.
- Personalized Learning Inside One District's Experiment With Competency-Based EducationIt’s tough to discern what grades and subjects are being taught in the Moonshot classroom. And that's part of the point.Assessment Explainer What Is Standards-Based Grading, and How Does It Work?Schools can retool to make instruction more personalized and student-centered. But grading is a common sticking point.Personalized Learning All States Allow Competency-Based Learning. Will It Become a Reality in Schools?School districts in every state have the flexibility to adopt competency-based learning, but implementation is easier said than done.Assessment From Our Research Center It's Hard to Shift to Competency-Based Learning. These Strategies Can HelpEducators are interested in the model and supportive of some of its key components, even if largely unfamiliar with the practice.Professional Development Teachers Need PD to Make Competency-Based Learning Work. What That Looks LikeCan teachers use microcredentials to become skilled at teaching in a way they probably never experienced as students?