CompetencyWorks | September 2021

September 28, 2021

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.

New CompetencyWorks Report: A Mastery-Based Math Teacher’s Journey

When Ashley Ferrara, a high-school math teacher in New York City, heard her school was transitioning to mastery-based learning, she was skeptical. Today, after a multi-year transition, she is an enthusiastic and devoted practitioner of mastery-based learning. Ferrara shares a refreshingly candid account of her journey, with lessons learned that can be applied beyond mathematics to inform mastery-based learning in all academic disciplines.

Webinar: An Introduction to Competency-Based Education

This webinar will answer common questions about what competency-based education is, why it’s important, what it looks like in practice, and what professional learning and policies are needed to transition to a competency-based approach. The Aurora Institute will be joined by a Mastery Instructional Coach and a Youth Ambassador from the Young Women’s Leadership School of Astoria, in New York City. The webinar is on October 14, 2021, at 2:00pm ET. You can register here.

Aurora Institute Symposium 2021: Registration Now Open

The theme of this year’s Aurora Institute Symposium is Leading Competency-Based Education Redesign. Join the field’s largest gathering of education innovators implementing personalized, competency-based learning. The Aurora Institute Symposium will be held virtually on October 25-27, 2021. Sessions will include shifting to competency-based education, transforming education systems, modernizing professional learning, and more. Aurora Institute members can attend free of charge. Register online.

Competency-Based Education Sessions at the 2021 Aurora Institute Symposium

This year’s Symposium offerings make it clear that competency-based education has been building momentum during the pandemic. If you are trying to deepen your understanding of competency-based education, you can join dozens of sessions that share successful practices, important ideas, valuable resources, and new developments in the field. This blog post lists 20 of the breakout sessions that focus on CBE most directly.

Scaling and Spreading Equitable Practices Through the Profile of a South Carolina Graduate Competencies

Apryl Henry, a teacher, and Britt Collins, an instructional coach, at River Bluff High School in South Carolina, spoke with their state’s Office of Personalized Learning about infusing the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate (PSCG) Competencies into classroom practices. Apryl supported students to self-assess and demonstrate evidence of learning through competency rubrics, while also spreading this work across other organizations.

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