Hear Ye, Hear Ye: Upcoming Events on Competency Education

There are a number of upcoming events that you may want to consider in building your knowledge about competency education.

#1 As you may or may not know, Susan Patrick, CEO and President and iNACOL, and I co-founded CompetencyWorks five years ago. We each brought a very different focus to the work, and it has proven to be a wonderfully productive partnership. We branded CompetencyWorks as separate from iNACOL because we believed that competency education is a structure for districts and schools to use to focus more closely on helping students learn and progress. Before the launch of CompetencyWorks, we started with a scan of the field where we found that there were pockets of innovation. Next with CCSSO, we organized a Competency-Based Pathway Summit with 100 innovators where the working definition was developed. Every year since then, with the CompetencyWorks advisory board, we do a reflection on how competency education is advancing and how the field is doing to support it. (Here is last year’s blog post on the topic.)

On Thursday, September 29 2-3 p.m. ET, the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) is hosting a webinar during which Susan and I will examine the current state of competency education and identify emerging issues across the field. We hope this to be a time to reflect with our colleagues and hear from different perspectives. Register here.

#2 If you live near Massachusetts, you might want to attend Perspectives on the Current Landscape of Competency-Based Learning Research sponsored by Northeast College and Career Readiness Research Alliance on October 6th. Paul Leather, Deputy Commissioner of Education, NH Department of Education will be a presenter with panelists including Erika Stump, PhD, Research Associate, Center for Education Policy, Applied Research, and Evaluation (CEPARE), University of Southern ME; R. Marc Brodersen, PhD, Senior Researcher, REL Central at Marzano Research; Savatore Menzo, PhD, Superintendent of Schools, Wallingford Public Schools, Wallingford, Conn.; and Aubrey Scheopner Torres, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Saint Anselm College, Research Consultant, REL Northeast & Islands. Register here.

#3 Marzano Research Labs is holding their Getting Started in Competency Based Education workshop in Denver, CO on October 17-18th. There are few places where you can get an overview of competency-based education. Most people piece it together themselves or attend one of the few trainings/design studios/institutes around the country. This is the next one I know about.

#4 See it for yourself: Lindsay Unified has released their dates for site visits. This is the best place to bring a team of people to understand what a “personalized, performance-based system” can look like. Dates are Monday, October 17, 2016; Friday, December 2, 2016; Friday, February 17, 2017; Friday, April 28, 2017.

#5 iNACOL Symposium is the best place to meet up with competency-based innovators from across the nation. The competency education strand of sessions is the best ever. It will be held October 25-28th in San Antonio.

#6 Redesigning for Student Success: Student-Centered Secondary Schools Showcase sponsored by EdExcellence, Group Center for Secondary School Redesign, and New England Association of Schools and Colleges will cover a lot of topics that schools that are in a stage of continuous improvement after implementing competency education might find helpful, such as Project-Based Learning, Authentic Assessment, and Student Voice & Choice. February 15-17, 2017, San Diego, CA.

And, of course, in March there is NESSC! They are calling for proposals right now.