{"id":18196,"date":"2023-10-16T03:00:38","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T07:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/?post_type=cw_post&p=18196"},"modified":"2023-10-16T01:24:28","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T05:24:28","slug":"a-learners-cbe-journey","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/a-learners-cbe-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"A Learner’s CBE Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

School has never really been a straight road for me. Throughout much of my academic career, I have struggled with learning disabilities and mental health. I never thought that I was going to make it through high school, so I never gave any thought to what I wanted my future to look like. I began high school in 2012. My school was a large, traditional high school. Classes were large, and I left school countless times. I always had to worry about time. Deadlines and tests would give me so much anxiety and added pressure. I would fall behind, and I could not show up for school because of my mental health. I felt like a complete failure all around.<\/span><\/p>\n

My experience with competency-based education changed my trajectory in life. I entered the Chelsea Opportunity Academy (COA) in 2018. COA is Chelsea\u2019s small, competency-based alternative school. When I learned how different competency-based education is, I knew I wanted to take part in this journey, think outside the box, and learn outside of the traditional setting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My Transition to Competency-Based Education\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

At COA, I found a place that could help me with all the little steps in between and more.\u00a0<\/span>I was part of COA\u2019s first group of students when it opened in 2018, and I knew most of my peers from our previous high school. Right from the start, attending COA was amazing. The environment was welcoming, and the teachers were always there to help if I needed them, even after school hours. At COA what stood out to me was the motto, <\/span>\u201cEvery day is a new day.\u201d <\/b>I enjoyed going to school, and on days where it was too hard to even show up, I never felt I was going to miss information or run out of time for an assignment. If I ever got frustrated with learning something new I could take a break from it and try again. I had access to all of my work and progress on the computer using the student tracker, and the attendance policy was very flexible. COA did not penalize me or make me feel small for not showing up to school, and I wouldn’t fall behind in progress; they gave me the flexibility to work from home if I needed to.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Keeping
Keeping track of coursework at COA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Progress
Progress Toward Graduation \/ Previous School Credits<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a good feeling to know that my education was at my own pace. If I did not remember information I learned the previous day, I could look back and re-learn it if I needed to. At COA, I really surprised myself. Before, I would fail classes a lot. I could never really understand or execute a problem because there were too many steps to remember, and when I had to apply it to the next topic, I couldn’t remember how to do it. Now, having what I need at all times and being able to go back, practice, and review was ideal on my road to my diploma.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The CBE learning model of COA gave me flexibility to work around my mental health and time to understand what I was learning. This allowed me to grow academically. I needed something that could understand my circumstances and accommodate my individual needs as a learner. When it came to class work, I understood the big picture. It was all the little steps in between where I needed help.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Learning, Not Grades!<\/span><\/h2>\n

At COA, there were no letter grades. No Letter Grades! What a relief. At COA, my progress to graduate was based on competency mastery. You could either be graded as <\/span>learning, functional or nuanced<\/span><\/i>. At COA\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n