Competency-Based Education

Innov8

EdTech 10: In Like A Lion

You know what they say – March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb. While you’re waiting for that transition in your corner of the world, take a break from your basketball brackets and annual hunt for all the green things in your wardrobe to dive…

Ed Policy

New iNACOL Report: State Policymakers Guide to K-12 Competency Education

Today iNACOL released Necessary for Success: Building Mastery of World-Class Skills – A State Policymakers Guide to Competency Education co-authored by Susan Patrick and Chris Sturgis. The paper focuses on key changes policymakers can take to remove barriers and create student-centered learning environments that allow for competency education.

Personalized Learning

Assessment All the Time? Why Not?

When talking with people who are not educators, I often think of Fannee Doollee, a character from the Zoom television series, which ran on PBS in the late seventies, who has a fascination with double letters. Fannee Doollee loves one thing but hates something very similar. For example, she loves swEEts but hates candy (notice the double EE in sweets). Similarly, in my conversation with parents and community leaders, I am always amazed at how they can advocate for one thing while mocking a possible solution.

Personalized Learning

Is Competency Based Learning the Future of Education?

French President, François Hollande, is short and spectacled. Oh, and he wants to abolish homework. Whatever his arguments (youths from poorer backgrounds are at a disadvantage to their more affluent peers, etc), children across the country must be dancing at their desks.

Personalized Learning

12 Must Read Papers of 2012

The 12 papers I most frequently cite (or plan to cite over the next few months) cover blended learning, online learning, competency-based learning, and edtech. They come from our friends at SETDA, iNACOL, Digital Learning Now, and the Department of Education.

Personalized Learning

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.

Personalized Learning

Q&A: A Split Screen Strategy Drives Proficiency-Based Learning

Ananth Pai, an elementary teacher in Minnesota, turned to game-based learning and a "split screen strategy" to engage and motivate students in the classroom. Today, Mr. Pai shares increased insight into his shift to a "split screen strategy" and how his efforts to personalize learning through proficiency-based learning model fit into a predominantly traditional school setting - with seat time, grades, and more.

Ed Policy

Answers For & Lessons From Critics of Competency-Based Learning

I'm trying to square two things that happened last week. The Nellie Mae Foundation issued a great report called Making Mastery Work: A Close Up View of Competency Education (MMW), a visit to 11 cool schools. The other event was a Facebook dialog with unschoolers that think competency-based schemes are more testing in a fancy package.