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

A Must-Read: The Hewlett Foundation Assessment for Learning Work Group released Principles for Assessment Design and Use to Support Student Autonomy.

Thought Leadership

• Michael Horn explores credentials and badges within competency-based system.
• In this article, a private school leader and a public school leader explore what a mastery transcript might look like, and quotes CompetencyWorks co-founder Chris Sturgis.
• In this article, Frederick Hess interviews Joel Rose, Co-Founder and CEO of Teach to One.
• EdSurge’s Tony Wan explores defining competency-based education.
• This article looks at personalized learning and accountability, from transition to transformation.

Assessments

• This article examines the ways in which we assess students’ high school experiences and the impact this has on their eligibility for college.

Recruiting and Supporting Educators

• A learner-centered culture includes educators, too. Learn more from NGLC on Education Week.
• Sajan George remarks on recruiting teachers for personalized, competency-based schools.

Colorado

• The Colorado Education Initiative released a new strategy that includes Competency-Based/Personalized Learning, and states that CEI is intensifying their efforts to help districts build systems where students advance based on demonstrated readiness and educators tailor learning for each student’s strengths, needs, and interests.
• Colorado’s Thompson School District is launching a “Seeing Is Believing” Tour as a type of professional learning where practitioners across 10 secondary schools work across buildings to showcase their classrooms, share success stories, and to unite as a district to do what’s best for students.The Donnell-Kay Foundation embarked on a journey across Colorado schools to examine how schools that have transitioned to a four-day school week are leveraging the fifth day. Here’s an update on their journey and learnings.

Massachusetts

• Massachusetts districts now trade notes on the best paths to personalized learning through the Massachusetts Personalized Learning Edtech (MAPLE) Consortium.
• The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MESE), the LearnLaunch Institute, and the Massachusetts Personalized Learning Edtech Consortium (MAPLE) released Landscape Analysis of Personalized Learning in Massachusetts, which maps the current landscape of K-12 personalized learning in the state.
• Here’s an EdSurge article about the statewide effort in Massachusetts to personalize learning.

Louisiana

• Louisiana Superintendent John White told a U.S. Senate committee that the state’s plan to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act is based on the idea of academic mastery and suggests calibrating around NAEP.

California

• Lindsay Unified School District received a Teacher School Leader Incentive grant, which will provide up to $28 million over three years to recruit and broaden the skill sets of its teachers and provide operating support for the Empower learning program.
• This California summer school program focuses on mastery, rather than seat time.

New Hampshire

• NPR highlighted New Hampshire’s Pittsfield High School, where the focus is on the student.
• New Hampshire’s Concord Schools are shifting toward competency-based education. This article examines what their system looks like and how shifts in grading and instruction are occurring.
• New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu offered high praise of the competency-based education system in New Hampshire as quoted in this article.

Maine

• Maine’s Peaks Island Elementary School is implementing proficiency-based education with a strong focus on respect and responsibility.
• Students in Maine’s Forest Hills High School presented on their proficiency-based education system at the Mass Customized Learning National Alliance’s 2017 National Summit, where they discussed their accomplishments and concepts such as growth mindset and voice and choice.

New York

• New York’s Lafayette Big Picture School is focusing on meeting every learner where they are and unleashing the unique possibilities within each one, as described in this Education Reimagined article.

New Resource

• In 2016, ExcelinEd released Policy, Pilots and the Path to Competency-Based Education: A Tale of Three States. Recently, they released The Next Chapter, which tracks the next phase of implementation of each state’s pilot program.

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