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component:for-whom.credentials
Skip a Year or Two of High School
Sports, socializing, and selective colleges are the primary reason for 4 years of high school. Most kids can and should spend less time in high school and more time in career programs or high education. Several reporters came to similar conclusions in the last few days. Walter Kirn, NYT Magazine, suggests…
3 Pivot Points to a Performance-Based Education System
In education, there’s a lot up in the air right now: standards, testing, employment practices, budgets, student technology, online learning, and federal policy. It’s conceivable that if we took advantage of the uncertainty, a few places could emerge with a better and cheaper education system. Here’s three pivot points that…
A Better Alternative
About two thirds of American students leave high school unprepared for college and careers; almost a third drop out and another third graduate unprepared to earn college credit. There are lots of reasons, but now that there’s agreement that students should graduate college/career ready, it’s clear that American high schools…
UExcel: University credit by exam
I joined the Western Governor’s University board almost 10 years ago because I was enthusiastic about the idea of credits for competencies. More recently, I’ve been investigating pathways to US universities for international students. Given both of these interests, I was pleased to read about UExcel:…
A proposal for a performance-based edu system
The fastest way to advance the concept of performance-based student progress and promote innovative school models would be to create several versions of a national performance-based online curriculum. Here’s a quick outline of one way this could work: ED and DOD (and partners) create a competition for a national merit…
Scrap credits/time as measures of progress
It’s time to scrap credit accumulation and seat time as the measures of student progress. Seat time requirements are the enemy of performance-based education. We’ve been spouting the mantra ‘vary time not learning’ for a generation but have seldom broken the mold. It’s great to see ED and CCSSO (and…
Even college grads should be employable.
The National Journal asked the question, “How can colleges help graduates pursue a career?” For college students not attending a highly selective university, the most valuable employment asset is work experience. Work and community-based learning should begin in high school. Three networks that do a particularly…