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New CompetencyWorks Case Study Offers Resources for Schools, Districts, and States to Rethink Their Approach to Assessment
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| Strengthening Local Assessment Systems for Personalized, Proficiency-Based Education: Strategies and Tools for Professional Learning is a new CompetencyWorks issue brief that describes a coordinated set of convenings in Vermont to support schools, districts, and other education organizations seeking to create high-quality local comprehensive systems of assessments. It offers an overview of the rationale and essential components of the new system, formative and summative performance assessments, and student-designed performance assessments. Pat Fitzsimmons, the Proficiency-Based Learning Team Leader at the Vermont Agency of Education, authored the brief. |
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Webinar Invitation | January 14, 2021 | 3 PM ET
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| Join members of the Vermont Agency of Education’s Proficiency-Based and Personalized Learning Teams as we delve into strategies for strengthening local assessment systems. Participants will learn about essential components of strong proficiency-based systems of assessment, investigate resources for improving systems, and see how evidence of learning can be captured in personalized learning plans.
Presenters include:
- Pat Fitzsimmons, Proficiency-Based Learning Team Leader, Vermont Agency of Education
- Ryan Parkman, Mathematics Specialist, Vermont Agency of Education Proficiency-Based Learning Team
- Margaret Carrera-Bly, Science Specialist, Vermont Agency of Education Proficiency-Based Learning Team
- Emily Leute, English Language Arts Specialist, Vermont Agency of Education Proficiency-Based Learning Team
- Sigrid Olson, Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator, Vermont Agency of Education Personalized Learning Team
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Examine the Purpose of Accountability
State and district leaders are greatly concerned about how the disruption caused by COVID-19 will impact the ability to assess students and identify schools for improvement. Competency-based education systems provide data and evidence of student performance in real-time, with a portfolio of student work and performance assessments. With better data, multiple measures, data literacy, quality assurance, and the requisite investments in educator capacity, we could evaluate proficiency, achievement gaps, rate of progress, and also understand growth based on individual student growth over time. |
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What Does Attendance Mean in the COVID-19 Era? New Issue Brief Offers Analysis and Recommendations
Attendance looks dramatically different in the COVID-19 era of remote and online learning, and states are grappling with setting policies that account for what attendance should mean and what it should look like. We’ve responded to multiple requests for technical assistance on this subject with a new offering for the field, Determining Attendance and Alternatives to Seat-Time, an issue brief we released at our recent National Policy Forum.
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Resources from the National Research Convening: Building the Evidence Base for K‐12 Personalized Learning
On October 20, 2020, Aurora Institute convened more than 100 education professionals as part of a pre-Symposium convening to explore themes surrounding the evidence on personalized learning. Generously sponsored by The Leon Lowenstein Foundation, convening sessions covered personalized learning implementation and outcomes, measurement, the learning sciences, culturally responsive education, researcher positionality, educational equity, state examples, and communications. Recordings from the event are now available. |
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Aurora Institute in the News
The Education Exchange: How Online Learning Is Unleashing Innovation – via Education Next
[PODCAST] The President and CEO of the Aurora Institute, Susan Patrick, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss how schools can continue to adapt and improve their remote learning environments.
Brief Proposes Alternatives to Seat Time as a Measure of Student Learning – via THE Journal
Is “seat time” really the optimal way to measure attendance during a pandemic? There are better alternatives, according to a new brief from the Aurora Institute (formerly iNACOL). The nonprofit advocates for “breakthrough policies” in K-12 education, including promoting competency-based education, which promotes a shift away from classroom time as an indicator of academic growth and towards showing mastery of concepts as a replacement. |
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| Our Center for Policy leads the multi-stage evolution of policy necessary for the growth of effective student-centered learning models toward the goals of high-quality learning and equity. Our policy priorities are designed to ensure the nation’s education system is fit for purpose and help move states forward from their current state of education to future systems. |
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CompetencyWorks
CompetencyWorks is an online resource dedicated to K-12 competency-based education. Drawing on lessons learned by innovators, we share knowledge through a practice-focused blog, research reports on emerging issues, policy advocacy, and resources curated from across the field. |
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| The Aurora Institute hosts a resource library containing more than 200 materials. Working collaboratively with diverse experts in the field, the Aurora Institute produces reports, books, policy briefs, blog posts, webinars, and related resources on key topics and tough issues that equip and empower educators and leaders to catalyze and scale personalized, next-generation learning models. |
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Aurora Institute
The mission of Aurora Institute is to drive the transformation of education systems and accelerate the advancement of breakthrough policies and practices to ensure high-quality learning for all.
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