New Paper on Student Supports in Competency-Based Environments

In December 2012, CompetencyWorks released The Learning Edge: Supporting Student Success in a Competency-Based Learning Environment. The paper delves into the fourth element of the definition: Students receive timely, differentiated support based on their individual learning needs. Understanding how to structure supports is important because learning in a competency-based environment means that students and adults are often on the edge of their comfort zone and competence—the learning edge. This page is designed to make it easy for you to find the links and resources that are mentioned in the paper. 
 Support in a Competency-Based Environment
 There are two necessary ingredients for creating learning-edge supports in which students are continually progressing in building and applying skills.

A.  Growth Mindset Creates Opportunities to Learn
“It starts with a growth mindset that values all of us as works in progress. It’s the joy of learning that motivates all of us to do our best. We have to let go of fixed mindsets that make us afraid of taking risks that might lead to failure. We must have a culture that understands failure is temporary, focusing one’s efforts, and that support exists to conquer the challenge.” — Don Siviski, Superintendent of Instruction at the Maine Department of Education

• Watch an interview  with Carol Dweck, author of Mindset or listen to a 30 minute podcast from Tech Nation
• Read Motivation, Engagement, and Student Voice at Students at the Center.
• State Resources

• Maine Cohort for Customized Learning is a statewide coalition of school systems, organizations, and individuals committed to supporting performance-based education in Maine school systems.
•  P20 Innovation Lab at the University of Kentucky

B. Learning That is Grounded in Relationships and Anchored by Assessment

• Learn more about RSU 2‘s approach to proficiency-based education. See RSU 2‘s Best Practices guide. You can also read case studies about RSU 2’s journey to proficiency-based education  at Maine’s Center for Best Practices. 
• Learn more about Danville Public Schools, Kentucky.

 Design Principles
 PRINCIPLE 1: Build a Culture rooted in a growth mindset that supports risk taking and help seeking.

• Boston Day and Evening Academy:
  • Making Mastery Work: A Close-Up View of Competency Education
    
  • CompetencyWorks Case Study (Part 1, 2 and 3)
  • Aligning Competencies to Rigorous Standards for Off-Track Youth: A Case Study of Boston Day and Evening Academy by Jobs for the Future
•  Schools for the Future

 PRINCIPLE 2: Utilize Assessments that are transparent, ongoing, and provide meaningful feedback to support student learning and agency.

• YouthBuild Charter School in Philadelphia
• Boston Arts Academy (see above)
• RSU 2 District
• Read the case study about Messalonskee RSU 18 and see the video about their student-centered practices. 
  
  • You can also find MSAD 15’s capacity matrix tool in the appendix of Making Mastery Work: A Close-Up View of Competency Education
• Russell Elementary School 

 PRINCIPLE 3: Develop Embedded, Tiered, and Timely Interventions for just-in-time support that leads to successfully meeting or exceeding the learning targets.

• Assessing Learning at Students at the Center
• Spaulding High School in Rochester, New Hampshire: Re-Learning and Re-Assessment policy. You can also learn about Spaulding at Competencyworks case study (Part 1, 2,and 3)
• Article about re-assessment by Erica Stofanak on CompetencyWorks
  

 PRINCIPLE 4: Develop Extended Opportunities to Learn within and beyond traditional school times and settings, including internships, online learning, project-based learning, summer classes, and more.

• Casco Bay High School. See Making Mastery Work: A Close-Up View of Competency Education
• Nolan Elementary is part of Michigan’s Education AchievementAuthority.
• Cooperative Educational Service Agency (CESA) #1 in Wisconsin
• West Brooklyn (NY) Community High School
• Virtual Learning Academy Charter School (VLACS) in New Hampshire

 PRINCIPLE 5: Know the Whole Student and seek to understand their life and their learning.
Read the article in Education Week exploring competency education at Newfound Regional High School in Bristol, New Hampshire and other schools.

• Schools for the Future
• Diploma Plus
• ACE Leadership High School
  
• Watch a presentation about Buzz, the information system being used by Nolan Elementary
• Watch a video about the learner-centered dashboard used at RSU 2. 
  

 PRINCIPLE 6: Implement a Continuous Improvement System that responds to keep students within or above pacing expectations.

•  Adams 50 School District in Colorado
•  Measuring Quality From Inputs to Outcomes: Creating Student Learning Performance Metrics and Quality Assurance for Online Schools published by iNACOL 2012.