{"id":17700,"date":"2023-06-13T11:00:26","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T15:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/?post_type=cw_post&p=17700"},"modified":"2023-06-27T12:47:19","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T16:47:19","slug":"rethinking-the-high-school-transcript-for-the-future-of-learning","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/rethinking-the-high-school-transcript-for-the-future-of-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Rethinking the High School Transcript for the Future of Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This post is the first part of a series based upon a report from the Aurora Institute, Going Beyond the Traditional: Next Gen Credentials and Flexible Learning Pathways<\/a>, which seeks to deepen state policymakers\u2019 understanding of the changes needed to facilitate meaningful next generation (\u201cnext gen\u201d) credentials and advance state policy to support those changes.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"Student
Photo by Vanessa Loring, Pexels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A key element of competency-based education (CBE) transformation efforts is changing the reporting system. Student-driven learner records and competency-based transcripts allow students – and those supporting them – to document their learning based on well-defined, verifiable, and transparent competencies, skills, and dispositions that they need for success today and in the future. A learner record and next gen transcript that accurately captures the competencies students build over their academic careers, rather than a typical high school transcript with a list of courses and grades, can be a north star to guide change efforts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This blog series explores how education innovators are transforming how we document and validate learning both inside and outside the classroom. These new models provide a meaningful alternative to the prevailing, outdated approach to transcripts. Redesigning the transcript for the next generation of learning and work addresses a key goal of CBE: to better represent what individuals actually know and can do.<\/span><\/p>\n

CBE Systems Form the Foundation for Next Gen Credentials\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

In competency-based models, the whole system is designed around evidence of learning. When fully implemented, the learning goals and each student\u2019s progress in learning and demonstrating those goals are transparent. Making the transition to key CBE elements, including creating meaningful assessments, building flexible pathways, and establishing competency-based grading and reporting, is a process that happens over time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the transformation process, the reporting system \u2013 the system developed to communicate student learning formally on report cards and transcripts \u2013 often is the last to change. After all, how can you report on competencies before you have implemented them? Even in well-developed CBE systems, some schools and districts choose to convert competency-based learning data into traditional grades. Transforming the education space is a journey, not something that happens overnight. Yet to fully transform education systems, we need to remake the transcript. Schools making the shift to CBE can serve as examples of competency-based assessment, grading, and reporting processes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Preparing Students for a Dynamic World of Ongoing Learning<\/span><\/h2>\n

With a constantly changing world and economy, people need access to opportunities to upskill and reskill to meet their personal and professional goals. Our traditional credent<\/span>ials do not recognize that learning is ongoing and dynamic, because the credentials are static once they are earned. In reality, as just one example from the opening of the Aurora Institute\u2019s <\/span>A Promise for Equitable Futures<\/span><\/a> report, fewer than one in five American students follow a clear and uninterrupted path from high school through college to career.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Student
Photo by RF Studios, Pexels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moreover, with great variability in the learning requirements between sc<\/span>hools, transcripts\u00a0tell us very little\u00a0about\u00a0what a student actually knows and<\/span>\u00a0can do. An \u201cA\u201d at one school may mean so<\/span>mething entirely different at another school, due to variations in course requirements, expectations, and grading policies. For example, some grades reflect only the evidence of learning academic knowledge, whereas other grades also include extra credit or a student\u2019s behaviors and level of participation. The essential skills and dispositions that are taught implicitly or explicitly in courses are usually missed by transcripts because those competencies are not reported on traditional transcripts. Competency-based records and credentials help to fully and accurately recognize the body of evidence of learning an individual engages in.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cCarnegie unit,\u201d based on \u201cseat time\u201d \u2013 or time spent in a classroom \u2013 anchors in place our predominantly time-based system and transcripts. But after more than a century of prominence, even the Carnegie unit is changing to better reflect what learners need in order to thrive in a changing world. The Carnegie Foundation, which originally created the Carnegie unit, is calling for a transition to a new system that aligns with the essential knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to be ready for the future. They have recently also <\/span>partnered with ETS<\/span><\/a> (Education Testing Service) to rethink assessment systems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting Smart recently<\/span>\u00a0makes a case for how competency-based credentialing of specific transferable skills can be done and how it has the potential to open up a wider ecosystem of learning to more learners. Different forms of credentialing are already happening in career and technical education (CTE), employment, and PK-12 and higher education. The paper<\/a> outlines the benefits of investing in the structures and capacity to credential learning, including providing \u201cbetter granularity around learning, better documentation of the learning, and more relevance for both the credential recipient and reviewer. This improves the match between higher education and\/or employment with the individual, while also providing a more clear and accurate lifetime learning pathway.\u201d The world is changing \u2013 learners need to be aware of what they need to know and do in order to thrive in a world where changing careers over time is the norm.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Features of Next Generation Credentials<\/span><\/h2>\n

Next gen credentials are the competency-based diplomas and certifications that result from a student demonstrating proficiency on a holistic set of competencies. Leading to next gen credentials, learner records officially document the competencies a student has demonstrated both inside and outside of the classroom. Learner records follow students as they learn on competency-based pathways of their choosing and are typically stored digitally so students can always access them. A variety of designs and terms for next gen learner records and credentials already exist. While there is no set model for what this must look like, there are common qualities across models and concepts. Learner records support the following key elements of CBE:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. They are accessible and useful to the learner for both guiding and communicating their learning in real time.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. They reference and align to a competency framework that outlines the learning goals, including the higher-order knowledge and transferable skills (such as those included in a profile of a graduate).<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. They capture anytime, anywhere learning.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. They communicate a student\u2019s level of competency for each learning goal with transparent performance levels. Systems may use language like \u201cproficient,\u201d \u201cmastered,\u201d \u201cadvanced,\u201d \u201cacceptable,\u201d \u201cneeds work,\u201d and \u201cnot yet.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"GraphicMany CBE systems use learner records or aspects of them in the learning process, including these examples from the <\/span>Competency<\/span><\/i>Works blog.<\/span><\/p>\n