{"id":16258,"date":"2022-11-23T08:04:53","date_gmt":"2022-11-23T13:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/?post_type=cw_post&p=16258"},"modified":"2022-11-23T08:08:20","modified_gmt":"2022-11-23T13:08:20","slug":"personalized-competency-based-learning-can-and-should-replace-tracking-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/personalized-competency-based-learning-can-and-should-replace-tracking-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Personalized, Competency-Based Learning Can and Should Replace Tracking \u2013 Here\u2019s Why"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at <\/span><\/i>KnowledgeWorks<\/span><\/i><\/a> on November 16, 2021. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify it and describe it \u2013 and then dismantle it.<\/span><\/p>\n

-Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist (2019)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s an essential truth we want more folks in education to recognize: tracking\u2014the widespread practice of labeling, ranking, sorting and separating students, our children, by perceived academic ability and behavioral compliance\u2014is bad, really bad. Its origins are racist and its current renditions in our schools perpetuate oppression and produce harm. The impact of tracking is particularly bad for students already facing multiple forms of injustice in and outside our schools. The data proving this fact are everywhere. <\/span>That\u2019s why we argued that when it comes to tracking, it\u2019s inaccurate to say inequity is a symptom; it\u2019s not really even an outcome.<\/span><\/a> With tracking, inequity is a principle of design. The system is working as intended. That\u2019s why we need to dismantle it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once folks begin to face this fact, they inevitably confront the difficult realization that if we\u2019re to dismantle all the systems, policies, procedures, and practices that compose tracking\u2019s infrastructure, we\u2019ll need to replace it with something else. That something needs to be a learning infrastructure ready to scale, ready to re-shape instruction and assessment, ready to shift mindsets, ready to inspire educators and students and parents and communities to rebuild learning environments so they prioritize belonging, growth, agency, self-efficacy, autonomy, and cultural responsiveness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, that replacement infrastructure already exists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Personalized, competency-based learning replaces tracking<\/span><\/h2>\n

Those who lead and work within our schools often find it daunting to extricate themselves from traditional ways of \u201cdoing school\u201d in part because many directly benefitted from those designs and because compelling alternatives to those approaches have yet to be presented. Many educators, leaders and parents cannot conceive of a school design that departs from separate and accelerated opportunities for \u201cgifted\u201d students, and isolated and remediated instruction for \u201cstruggling\u201d learners. Needing to see it to believe it, some folks are reticent to abandon their cultural and professional training until they can be shown an alternative that offers more gain than loss. Even the most well-intentioned folks can be leery of accepting new ways of operating if they get stuck in old assumptions and problematic practices. We get that. Systemic change is hard. And changing beliefs can be even harder. But once we honestly and critically face what tracking is and what it does, we can\u2019t ignore that we must do things differently and push through the reticence toward brighter horizons.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the good news: Those who have deeply investigated and implemented personalized, competency-based learning typically recognize that the rationale for tracking\u2014and the practices and policies on which it depends\u2014is soon stripped of its legitimacy. Once folks see how to keep students together socially and individualize instructional activities to build on the unique needs, assets, and contributions each student possesses, tracking just doesn\u2019t make sense anymore. It\u2019s really this simple: schools don\u2019t need to track once the logics and systemic practices of personalized, competency-based learning are established.<\/span><\/p>\n

Want evidence for this? Twenty years ago, Oakes (1992) named three core challenges faced by those who sought to de-track schools:<\/span><\/p>\n