iNACOL PLUGGED IN | 04.05.19 – Capitol Hill Forum, New Issue Brief and Webinar Announcements

April 5, 2019

iNACOL Plugged In Newsletter

Plugged In
Apr. 5, 2019

Resources from the iNACOL and AYPF Capitol Hill Forum on Competency-Based Education

Working to educate federal policymakers on the need to transform the nation's education systems, iNACOL and the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) jointly hosted a briefing on Capitol Hill late last month. Following several visits with Members of Congress, the briefing convened more than 50 staffers for an overview of competency-based education, its growth across the country and key policy issues that support it.

Panelists included:

Susan Patrick, President and Chief Executive Officer, iNACOL
- See a Quick Introduction
- Clip of Discussion on Misconceptions in Competency Education
Maria Worthen, Vice President for Federal & State Policy, iNACOL
- See Excerpt of Discussion on Policy Levers Supporting Competency Education
Latoya Dixon, Director, Office of School Transformation, South Carolina Department of Education
- See a Clip of Discussion on South Carolina's Journey
Virgel Hammonds, Chief Learning Officer, KnowledgeWorks
- Here's an Excerpt of Discussion on Scaling Comptency Education
- A Clip on the Power of Student Agency
Kelly Brady, Director, Instructional Support for Student-Centered Learning, Idaho State Department of Education
- See a Discussion of Idaho's Policy and Practice Trajectory toward Mastery-Based Education
- Fielding a Question from a Hill Staffer Comparing Idaho and Wyoming
Bill Zima, Superintendent of Schools, Regional School Unit 2, Maine
- See Bill Sharing How Maine's RSU 2 Began Its Entry into Competency Education

The briefing was an opportunity for policymakers to examine whether the K-12 educational system in the United States is “fit for purpose” and supports the goals of preparing every student for future success in the workforce, as well as in their personal and professional lives. By bringing together national experts and state and district leaders, this forum highlighted the growth of CBE in state policy, the benefits of CBE, and promising practices taking hold around the country. CBE also enables opportunities for states to align K-12 education with postsecondary education systems and the workforce.

AYPF has compiled several resources from the convening, which you are free to use and share, including:

Developing a Modern Teacher Workforce: Federal Policy Recommendations for Professional Learning and Supporting Future-Focused, Competency-Based Education Systems:

New Issue Brief Published on Developing a Modern Teacher Workforce

Late last month, iNACOL published a new brief that outlined a new vision for the future of the educator profession, framing a role for federal policymakers to support the alignment of the profession with the opportunities and demands of a 21st-century education system.

Three policy recommendations are identified:

Diversifying pathways into the teaching profession,
Catalyzing innovation to redesign teacher preparation, and
Developing meaningful systems of assessments and evaluation.

The brief also articulates specific policy actions for each recommendation, which include: increasing affordability and instituting incentives to expand and diversify the teacher workforce, supporting innovation in teacher education to enable 21st-century learning, and helping states build balanced systems of assessments to support 21st-century learning.

The recommendations describe actions for federal policymakers to enable and enact the vision described in the previous CompetencyWorks report, Moving Toward Mastery: Growing, Developing, and Sustaining Educators for Competency-Based Education.

Reminders

For students to experience the future of learning, we need to transform educator learning. In this first webinar in a series of three presented with 2Revolutions, we will investigate the current state of educator professional learning and unpack why professional learning needs to change. We will examine trends shaping the future of educator learning and envision what a next generation professional learning model could look like. Participants will then apply their learning by designing the Future of Educator Learning experience. Join hosts Natalie Truong, iNACOL Policy Director, along with Adam Rubin, 2Revolutions Founder and Partner, and consultant Katherine Casey on Monday, April 8, 2019 at 3pm Eastern.

Webinar on Competency Education's Most Frequently Asked Questions

Competency-based education, also referred to as mastery-based, proficiency-based or performance-based education, is a system of education designed to equitably ensure all students develop the success skills they will need for college, career and life.

This webinar will answer the most frequently asked questions about why competency-based education is important, how it relates to personalization, what makes up an effective competency-based model and what policies need to be in place to fully support it. Click below to register and hear hear from competency education leaders Eliot Levine, iNACOL Research Director, and Susan Patrick, iNACOL President & CEO on Thursday, May 23, 2019 at 3pm Eastern.

New from iNACOL's Blog: Education Domain

The First Step in DEI Work Is Looking in the Mirror

Last week, three of iNACOL’s staff: our President and CEO Susan Patrick, our Vice President for Federal and State Policy Maria Worthen, and myself, a Program Manager in communications, attended Promise 54’s DEI Accelerator Convening in Kansas City, Missouri. This gathering was the starting line for an eight-month program of deep work exploring the state of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our organization and in the field of education. Leaders and catalysts from more than 40 education organizations across the country gathered to not only hear from prolific speakers and students, but also as a necessary first step, be introspective and begin the complex work of examining ourselves.

- Ashley Jones

The First Step in DEI Work Is Looking in the Mirror

The Chugach School District Journey: From Traditional to Transformational Education

The Roots of the Journey: The Chugach School District story of change is based upon the need to meet the needs of all students, and discover a way to put theory into practice to make a difference in their lives. By the mid-1990’s, most of our students were desperately struggling to meet state academic expectations, struggling to read and comprehend at grade level, and encountering barriers to a successful life after high school.

- Debbie Treece

Featured Resource: Communication Strategies for Education Leaders Shifting Toward Competency-Based, Personalized Learning

In this webinar, Chris Sturgis, previously with CompetencyWorks, joined Karla Phillips from ExcelinEd to discuss best practices to communicate about personalized, competency-based learning based on a survey and landscape analysis conducted by ExcelinEd and EdElements. View this webinar, as they delve into message testing and recent trends.

READ

BONUS: Enjoying Learning or Completing Tasks? How Do You Explain Competency-Based Education?

Plugged In Headlines: News about Education Transformation

How to Unlock Students’ Internal Drive for Learning
Tara García Mathewson, Hechinger Report

Highlights from Projections of Education Statistics to 2027
National Center for Education Statistics

The Diversity Gap for Public School Teachers is Actually Growing Across Generations
Michael Hansen and Diana Quintero, Brookings Institution

Special Report: What Student-Centered Schools Look Like
Education Week

MT Lawmakers Look for Workforce Shortage Solutions in School-Based Programs
8KPAX News

SXSW EDU 2019: CEO State of Play in Personalized Learning
New Profit

A Look at Implicit Bias and Microaggressions
Todd Finley, Edutopia

iNACOL in the News

Unfair at Any Speed
The long-held belief that faster is better in learning - speedism - hurts students of all speeds, writes Myk Garn, and should be replaced with individualized and guided learning models...Read More.

SAVE THE DATE

Policy

The iNACOL Center for Policy Advocacy leads the multi-stage evolution of policy necessary for the growth of effective personalized learning models toward the goals of high quality, equity, access and dramatically improving student learning to close the achievement gap and ensure every student has access to high-quality, world-class learning opportunities.

CompetencyWorks

CompetencyWorks is an online resource dedicated to competency education in K-12 education. CompetencyWorks shares original research, knowledge and a variety of perspectives through an informative blog with practitioner knowledge, policy advancements, papers on emerging issues and a wiki with resources curated from across the field. Bookmark this resource and check often for frequent updates.

Resources

Working collaboratively with diverse experts in the field, iNACOL produces reports, books, policy briefs, blog posts, webinars and related resources on key topics and tough issues that equip and empower educators and leaders to catalyze and scale personalized, next generation learning models. Use our web-based library to freely access and share materials.


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