What’s New in K-12 Competency Education?

Teacher and Ed Leader Insights

• Bill Zima, Superintendent of RSU 2 in Maine, offers advice to other superintendents getting started with personalized learning.
• Jim Dillon, an educator for over 35 years, describes how to reach struggling students and teach the whole child.
• English teacher Ariel Maloney explores why cultural competency matters for teachers and why being able to engage students requires understanding racial issues deeply.

Thought Leadership

• As competency-based schools continue to build up their applied learning opportunities, we can learn from those schools investing heavily in project-based learning as a core design element. Here’s 10 U.S. K-12 next generation school networks using personalized learning with strong project-based learning elements.
• Helen F. Ladd, Senior Fellow for Brown Center on Education Policy, explains why now is the time to experiment with inspections for school accountability.
• How can the language we use about learning determine inclusivity? Here’s insights from KQED Mind/Shift.

Assessments for Learning

• In Maine’s RSU 19, students begin using electronic portfolios to showcase student work in pre-Kindergarten, with new digital tools allowing teachers and students to assess work more comprehensively.
• New Hampshire’s performance assessments is appealing to other states, such as Indiana, as a means for students to demonstrate deeper, more meaningful learning.
• Assessing student growth through mastery is an alternative to traditional end-of-year testing. This article explores authentic end-of-year assessments for learning.

Movement in the States

• Methow Valley School District’s Independent Learning Center, in Washington state, received a waiver to provide competency education—making it the fourth school in Washington to receive this waiver.
• House Chairman of the Education Interim Committee Brad Last discusses implementing competency education in Utah as a new way of teaching and learning that local districts are beginning to pilot and the state is encouraging through grant programs.

CBE News

• Lindsay Unified Public Schools, with a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, is bringing together a cohort of schools interested in emulating their competency-based approaches and change management processes.
• Southern New Hampshire University was selected by the U.S. Department of Education to participate in a new round of experimental sites focused on expanding college access and affordability through dual enrollment programs. College for America at SNHU will offer its Associate of Arts in General Studies—a competency-based education degree program—and will partner with high schools to participate in this experiment.

New iNACOL Reports

• iNACOL released a new report to illustrate the technical requirements and functionalities that learning management systems need to shift toward student-centered instructional models.
• iNACOL published Promising State Policies for Personalized Learning, a valuable resource for policymakers and education leaders seeking to create the conditions to enable and support personalized learning. Attend the upcoming webinar to explore the report findings. Education Week covered this report here.

Other Resources

• Digital Promise released a Research Map offering two unique visualizations that connect you with thousands of journal articles in education and learning sciences. Explore the maps here.
• The Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education published a new report about designing new accountability systems: Redesigning School Accountability and Support: Progress in Pioneering States.
• Transforming Education released a working paper on mindsets, essential skills, & habits (MESH): Ready To Be Counted: The Research Case for Education Policy Action on Non-Cognitive Skills.
• The National Center for Learning Disabilities released a report highlighting recommendations and key considerations for parents, educators, school and district leaders and policymakers for personalizing learning for students with disabilities.
• The Learning Accelerator and OpenEd partnered to create a list of specific learning objectives for K-8 mathematics, freely available to all teachers. This blog post explains more.

The College and Career Readiness and Success (CCRS) Center released 3 resources for regional comprehensive centers and states to strengthen all students’ career readiness:

• Report: State Policies to Support Competency-Based Education for Overage, Under-Credited Students
• Report: Integrating Employability Skills: A Framework for Educators
• Blog: Voices from the Field: Career Pathways—Creating Relevant Learning Experiences

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