CompetencyWorks | March 2022

March 31, 2022

This newsletter shares recent CompetencyWorks blog posts and Aurora Institute resources, providing thought leadership and practical lessons from the field to support transformation toward personalized, competency-based K-12 schools and systems.

Submit Presentation Proposals for the Aurora Institute Symposium

The Aurora Institute is seeking proposals to present virtually during the annual Aurora Institute Symposium, the largest convening of innovators working to transform the education system to personalized, competency-based learning. Proposals are due by March 17, 2022. The Symposium will take place October 24-26, 2022.

Submit

A Primer to Indigenous Education: A Case for Tribal Competency Crediting

Washington State Teacher-of-the-Year Jerad Koepp (Wukchumni) and Principal Michael Smith are working together to change the education system for Native students and communities. They provide an overview of federal and state actions related to Indigenous education, followed by strategies for education leaders to honor Indigenous knowledge in ways that revitalize and sustain Native communities.

Whose Standards Are We Privileging? Collaboration and Consultation with Indigenous Leaders

Continuing their CompetencyWorks series, Jerad Koepp (Wukchumni) and Michael Smith share the powerful steps in a healing and reconciliation process that have made the North Thurston Public Schools in Washington more equitable for Native students. They discuss how competency-based crediting can provide a viable pathway to recognize Tribal education systems and promote the health and well-being of the larger education community.

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Replacing the Grammar of Schooling with Competency-Based Innovations

Reimagining time-based, age-based, course-based structures catalyzed Building 21’s founding, writes Sandra Moumoutjis, Executive Director of Building 21’s Learning Innovation Network. She shares strategies to support the transition to competency-based education, such as how the Allentown School District in Pennsylvania integrated their competency frameworks with state requirements and a mastery-based transcript.

Pandemic Pods, Personalized Learning, and the Future of Education

Drawing on two years of research on the “pandemic pod” movement, a new report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education explores what occurred when families were free to design their children’s learning. Jenny Poon, a fellow at the Center for Innovation in Education and co-author of the report, shares how lessons learned from pandemic pods can support school and district leaders to make the education system more personalized and learner-centered.

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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 CompetencyWorks

CompetencyWorks is an initiative that provides information and knowledge about competency-based education in the K-12 education system. Drawing on lessons learned by innovators and early adopters, CompetencyWorks is an online resource for sharing knowledge, original research and policy advances, and a variety of field perspectives. CompetencyWorks provides an informative blog with practitioner knowledge on key topics and papers on emerging issues, with resources curated from across the field of K-12 competency-based education.

Contact: Eliot Levine
[email protected]

CompetencyWorks | Aurora Institute