Top 15 CompetencyWorks Blogs of 2015

Over the past year, we’ve written about the growth of competency-based education and have many conversations with educators in the field (including my interview with Chris Sturgis of CompetencyWorks and Karla Phillips at FEE) about implementation, why this matters and where we are headed.

In 2015, we’ve also written a book for parents that in part focuses on the importance of students learning at their own pace and includes specific advice to encourage and allow for “at pace” learning- at home and at school. We love this list by the CompetencyWorks and iNACOL teams which highlight the best blogs from CompetencyWorks in 2015.

Grab your eggnog or your hot cocoa and dive in to learn more about where we’ve been and where we are headed in competency-based education.

This month, President Obama signed The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law, reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and replacing No Child Left Behind. iNACOL released a statement applauding the President and United States Congress for their historic, bipartisan effort to improve federal K-12 education law for all students.

As the year comes to a close, below is a list of the top 15 CompetencyWorks blogs of 2015:

1. A Reflection on the Field of Competency Education
2. Summer Reading for Newbies: What is Competency Education?
3. Support for Teachers in a Competency Education School
4. It’s Time for Mid-Course Corrections in K-12 Competency-Based Education
5. Keeping the Why
6. Preparing to “Turn the Switch” to a Proficiency-Based Learning System
7. Multiple Pathways to Competency-Based Education
8. Going BIG in Cedar Rapids
9. Teaching: The Most Intellectual Job in the World
10. Lesson Learned: Enabling Policy Isn’t Enough, It Takes Incentives
11. Making Sense (or Trying to) of Competencies, Standards and the Structures of Learning
12. Setting the PACE: Teacher Assessment Practices in a Competency-Based Education System
13. Learner-Centered Tip of the Week: Readiness Levels
14. Casco Bay High School: We Will Shape our School by Our Learning
15. What I’m Learning About Student Agency

We wish you a heart warming and happy holiday season.

Chris Sturgis, MetisNet
Susan Patrick, iNACOL
Natalie Abel, iNACOL

For more from CompetencyWorks, check out:

• Multiple Pathways to Competency-Based Education?
• A Reflection on the Field of Competency Education
• Doing It Yourself: From Independent Learning Plans to Organizing Your Instructional Path

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