In Pursuit of Equality: A Framework for Equity Strategies in Personalized, Competency-Based Education

This paper seeks to unpack the concept of equity, review key equity strategies that have been developed to serve historically underserved students, and offer an initial framework to launch discussion at the National Summit on K-12 Competency-Based Education.

In this paper, three important concepts are introduced:

1.  A definition of educational equity to guide the field’s conversations.

2. A set of equity strategies that every district and school should fully integrate into instructional capacity.

3. A framework that includes a set of guiding principles for ensuring that competency-based education is fully designed to support equity strategies and ensure all students are growing and progressing.

This draft paper was prepared in advance of the National Summit on K-12 Competency-Based Education and will be revised based on attendees’ input. CompetencyWorks is hosting the Summit in Denver, Colorado on June 21-23, 2017. The Summit is invitation-only and will convene 100 leading innovators to move the field of competency-based education through the next generation of ideas and actionable outcomes, with a specific focus on equity and diversity. The Summit will tackle 6 issues: equity, policy, quality, meeting kids where they are, identifying emerging issues and revising the working definition of competency education.

Review the National CBE Summit papers that explore key issues: 

• An Introduction to the National Summit on K-12 Competency-Based Education
• Meeting Students Where They Are
• In Search of Efficacy: Defining the Elements of Quality in a Competency-Based Education System
• Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education