CompetencyWorks was founded in 2012 by Susan Patrick, former President & CEO of The Aurora Institute, and Chris Sturgis of LearningEdge (formerly of MetisNet). The initiative was designed to focus on knowledge-sharing and on field-building to create opportunities for the voices of innovators to shape the field. Working across the field, early activities included creating a working definition of competency-based education, supporting networks of innovators and new organizations in the field, establishing a focus and strands on competency-based education at the Symposium, and developing and disseminating knowledge through the CompetencyWorks website, wiki, papers, blog posts, and webinars.

As the field has developed, the role of CompetencyWorks has expanded to include describing the work of innovative districts in more depth, identifying and responding to questions and emerging issues from the field, providing light coordination across diverse organizations in the field, hosting briefings for stakeholders (e.g., policymakers, funders, district leaders, and organizations), providing policy development and advocacy, and intervening on issues that are creating vulnerability or confusion within the field.