What’s New in K-12 Competency Education?

Resources

CompetencyWorks and iNACOL released Implementing Competency Education in K-12 Systems: Insights from Local Leaders in early June. Chris Sturgis and Susan Patrick are hosting a webinar to discuss the report’s findings on June 25, 2015 from 2:00-3:00pm ET. Register here.

In case you missed iNACOL’s June 10 webinar, where Chris Sturgis and Susan Patrick discuss the Maximizing Competency Education and Blended Learning report, you can view the archived webinar here.

News

• Featuring Susan Patrick, President and CEO of iNACOL, this article explores the limitations of the traditional education system, as well as policy barriers that prevent the implementation of innovative, competency-based learning infrastructures.
• The Maine Chamber of Commerce is in support of Maine’s proficiency-based education policy, citing rising graduation rates five years in a row. (Read more.)
• The D.C. Board of Education has approved a new competency-based Charter Goodwill Excel, an alternative school, even though the state has yet to pass enabling policy for competency-based credits.
• RSU2’s four-year superintendent, Virgel Hammonds, is leaving his district to become chief education officer at KnowledgeWorks, where he will have the opportunity to “support students and educators on a national scale.” (Read more.)
• A Connecticut district is moving beyond the controversy associated with the Common Core and creating a system where students earn their diplomas on the basis of competency alone. (Read more.)

Pushing the Field

• Daniel Pink’s motivation research concludes that teachers should provide students with greater autonomy and purpose to cultivate the development of intrinsic motivation.
• How to Prepare Your Students for Student-Centered Learning, by EdSurge’s Cameron Pipkin, highlights five steps to creating a student-centered learning culture among your students.
• Dr. Twyman, director of innovation and technology for the Center on Innovations in Learning, is working to improve public education systems through competency-based education. (Read more.)

For more news, information, and resources in competency-based higher education, follow us on twitter (@CompetencyWorks) or sign up for our monthly newsletter from our homepage.