CompetencyWorks | April 2017

April 27, 2017


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From the Field

Reaching The Tipping Point

What's Possible with PL

Chugach School District: A Personalized, Performance-Based System

Leadership for Learning

Springpoint New School Design Models

My Ways Next Gen Learning  

Imaginarium Personalized Learning

Dear Colleagues: 


Chris Sturgis visited four schools in Chicago transitioning towards competency education. Learn what Chicago is bringing to the conversation about personalized learning and competency education in this blog series:

  1. CBE in Chicago
  2. Leap Innovations – Learning Exponentially for Advancing Potential
  3. Loving Learning at Lovett Elementary
  4. Personalizing Learning at West Belden
  5. Getting Results at Lindblom
  6. Servant to Two Masters: Balancing Skills and Content at Lindblom
  7. Juarez Community Academy: When Big Schools Become Competency-Based


James Rickabaugh, senior advisor at Wisconsin’s Institute for Personalized Learning, has written a blog series on Student Focused Learning in Springdale, Arkansas. Learn about Springdale’s innovative, promising ideas worth sharing: 

  1. Springdale, Arkansas: A Tradition of Innovation and Future of Opportunity
  2. Building Learning Momentum at Springdale’s School of Innovation
  3. Finding Time and Providing Support for Student-Driven Learning


CompetencyWorks published a four-part blog series reflecting on the intersection of competency education in K-12 and higher education: 

  1. Some of These Things Are Not Like the Others: CBE in Higher Ed and K12
  2. The Field of CBE in Higher Education and K12
  3. Streamlining the Transition Between K12 and Higher Education
  4. Thinking About Design Elements and Quality Standards


The field has produced a number of resources and reports advancing personalized, competency education. Here are a few to highlight: 

  1. Designing New School Models: A Practical Guide, published by Springpoint.
  2. The MyWays Success Framework: Student Competencies for Learning, Work and Life, published by Next Generation Learning Challenges.
  3. Leadership for Learning: What is Leadership’s Role in Supporting Success for Every Student? published by the National Center for Innovation in Education.
  4. Building Towards Mastery: Tools and Practices for Supporting Overage and Under-Credited Adolescents in a Mastery-Based Learning Environment, published by the New York City Department of Education. 
  5. Personalized Learning: A Journey through Year One, published by Imaginarium, the Denver Public Schools Innovation Lab.
  6. Innovation in Accountability: Designing Systems to Support School Quality and Student Success, published by the Center for American Progress. 
  7. Low-Stakes Completion-Based Funding: A New Approach to Financing Competency-Based Education, published by Florida Southwestern State College School of Education and the National Center for Innovation in Education. 



Chris Sturgis, MetisNet

Susan Patrick, iNACOL

Natalie Abel, iNACOL

CompetencyWorks