Aurora Digest | February 2023

February 15, 2023

The Aurora Institute is excited to share a new monthly newsletter, Aurora Digest: An Update on Personalized, Competency-Based Education (CBE). Whether you’re just getting started with this work, or are an expert with years of experience, stay tuned for monthly updates on the future of education transformation! Each month, we’ll be sharing updates from our work on policy, practice, research, and convening opportunities, in addition to highlighting the latest updates on future-focused education from the field.

The University of Wyoming’s College of Education Aims to Reinvent Educator Development – The College of Education is working in partnership with 2Revolutions, a national education design lab, to launch the UW Master Educator Competency Program.The Head of the Carnegie Foundation Wants to Ditch the Carnegie Unit. Here’s Why – Learn why the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching wants to completely rethink the time-based system of credits to focus on competencies.

Rethinking High School: Upending Traditional Subject Structure in Indiana – With flexible schedules, Purdue Polytechnic High School is supporting innovations for equity. “Sometimes people think there are more barriers or requirements than there actually are,” notes the Aurora Institute’s Laurie Gagnon in The74.

Personalizing Learning is Even More Urgent For Districts in 2023 and Beyond – “Efforts like personalizing learning for each student might feel superfluous or even like a distraction and headache. But the opposite is true,” write Michael B. Horn and Daniel Curtis.

Aurora Institute’s State Policy Priorities

As many states have begun new legislative sessions this year, we encourage policymakers to review our latest state policy recommendations to advance personalized, competency-based education in their states.

Register for our Upcoming Webinar – NCAA High School Initial-Eligibility Policy Updates: Expanding Opportunity for Student-Centered Learning
Join us for an interactive panel discussion with staff from the NCAA Eligibility Center and the South Kent School in Connecticut. This webinar will include an overview of NCAA high school review policies and updates, considerations for competency- or mastery-based models, and the opportunity to ask questions and hear various perspectives about NCAA policies and processes.

We Are Back in Palm Springs!
Save the date for the annual Aurora Institute Symposium! This year’s Symposium will be hosted on October 15-17, 2023 in Palm Springs, California. Stay tuned for registration opening – coming soon!

LEARN MORE

Top Ten CompetencyWorks Blog Posts of 2022
Explore the most read ComptencyWorks blog posts in 2022! We offer our gratitude to the many leaders in the field who have generously shared their knowledge, tools, and perspectives to advance K-12 competency-based education (CBE).

LEARN MORE

View the recording from our recent Introduction to K-12 Competency-Based Education webinar with leaders and students from Harrisburg, SD, and the Bronx, NY.

WATCH

Culturally responsive teaching and learning is a key part of personalization. In this podcast, Dr. Gholdy Muhammad shares her Historically Responsive Literacy Framework and how it can be leveraged in multiple contexts across the K-12 system.

LISTEN

For more news and updates in K-12 competency-based education, sign up for our monthly newsletters and follow the Aurora Institute on Twitter: @Aurora_Inst.

About the Aurora Institute

The Aurora Institute’s mission is to drive the transformation of education systems and accelerate the advancement of breakthrough policies and practices to ensure high-quality learning for all. Aurora is shaping the future of teaching and learning through its work in policy advocacy, research, field-building, and convening. With a national and global view of education innovation, we work on systems change in K-12 education, promote best practices, examine policy barriers, and make recommendations for change to yield improved outcomes for students. Aurora envisions a world in which all people are empowered to attain the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to achieve success, contribute to their communities, and advance society.