What’s New in K-12 Competency-Based Education?

Education Policy Resources

• The U.S. Department of Education is now accepting applications for its Innovative Assessment Pilot. States and districts can apply for the Pilot and begin developing next generation systems of assessments. For a deeper look into redesigning assessments, check out this iNACOL issue brief: Redesigning Systems of Assessments for Student-Centered Learning, and view this archived webinar to learn more.
• iNACOL published a new report, Current to Future State: Issues and Action Steps for State Policy to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Learning, which articulates a vision for the future of K-12 education and offers steps state policymakers can take to create the conditions for personalized, competency-based learning to scale.

 Other Resources

• Readers are encouraged to check out this new book from Anthony Kim and Alexis Gonzales-Black titled: The NEW School Rules. Check out the NEW School Rules website for additional information, resources, templates, and guides on how to get started now.
• The National Commission on Social, Emotional and Academic Development released, How Learning Happens: Supporting Students’ Social, Emotional, and Academic Development, which captures six key lessons the Commission has learned to date on how schools and communities can effectively support students’ comprehensive development. See also The Evidence Base for How We Learn: Supporting Students’ Social, Emotional, and Academic Development.
• 10 Mindframes for Visible Learning: Teaching for Success, by John Hattie and Klaus Zierer, is a practical guide, which includes questionnaires, scenarios, checklists and exercises that will show any school how to implement Hattie’s mindframes to maximize success.
• The Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development has released a report titled, Supporting the Whole Teacher, which discusses the benefits of focused efforts to address teachers’ understanding of the social and emotional dimensions of learning.

Understanding Competency-Based Education and Personalized Learning

• Virgel Hammonds shares an example of how students can make meaningful connections between what they’re learning and what matters to them.
• Katie Varatta provides answers to some of the common questions she receives about teaching in a competency-based education environment.
• An article from Edutopia says that enabling students to experience accomplishments and improvement builds their feeling of competence.

Grading

• A Florida lawmaker is looking to give school districts new alternatives to grading standards that will allow them to create new letter grade interpretations and give students the option of displaying mastery of a subject in lieu of traditional credit hour requirements.
• This blog offers some suggestions about how to challenge standards-based grading and learning.

Food for Thought  

• A blog by Julia Freeland Fisher and Ace Parsi offers ways to proactively design an education system with the end goal of equity in mind.
• Marco Petruzzi discusses measuring student learning with data, trust and time in this article.
• The discourse around personalized learning has now changed from “why” to “how.” Learn more in this article.

Professional Development

• iNACOL published an issue brief, State Strategies to Develop Teacher Capacity for Personalized, Competency-Based Learning, which offers state policy recommendations and action steps for policymakers who are supporting the redesign of educator workforce systems to enable educators to build the skills, competencies and knowledge needed to thrive in modern, student-centered learning environments.
• EdSurge recently held an hour-long video forum to answer questions about the future of micro-credentialing. Check out highlights from the video.
• Lisa Melmed encourages educators to earn a micro-credential in performance-based assessment.
• Jennifer Vandiver shares her journey as an educator with micro-credentials.

Personalized Learning

• The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative announces a new round of grants that will focus on supporting the “whole educator.”
• Tyler Barnett of KnowledgeWorks offers 5 ways personalized learning can help secure the future of rural America.
• This EdWeek article explores key points from the iNACOL issue brief on educator capacity.
• Commonwealth Magazine offers an opinion piece that suggests that personalized learning is the key to tackling inequity in education.
• This article provides a critique of a 1984 study that advances the power of one to one tutoring, as it raises questions about modern models of education.
• Nicholas Bruski provides insight from his experience in personalized learning as a principal at Montecito Union School District in California.
• Digital Promise shares highlights of their recent report, Policies and Practices that Meet Learners Where They Are, in a new blog.
• The Institute for Personalized Learning has a YouTube Channel with videos on proficiency-based learning, customized paths and learner profiles.
• The Role of Networks in Advancing Personalized Learning by FSG explores the state of networks in personalized learning today, drawing on nearly a year of research conducted by FSG and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It covers three main themes: the value of networks for the personalized learning sector, the roles that networks already play today and how to strengthen networks going forward.