{"id":2964,"date":"2014-03-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-20T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/cw_post\/a-growing-body-of-research\/"},"modified":"2020-02-05T12:51:51","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T17:51:51","slug":"a-growing-body-of-research","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/a-growing-body-of-research\/","title":{"rendered":"A Growing Body of Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"research\"<\/a>The Northeast College and Career Readiness Research Alliance<\/a> (NCCRA) at the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands<\/a> at EDC has kicked off a research group on competency education to help researchers and practitioners collaborate. It\u2019s clear from our conversations that research is needed in three areas \u2013 to help inform practice, to support policy development, and to catalyze more interest in research.<\/p>\n

We desperately need research, and it is a challenging time to do this research. The term competency education is being used for different things. From what I can tell there are two primary variables: 1) The scope and 2) the definition of mastery.<\/p>\n

See below for list of published and upcoming research.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

SCOPE<\/strong> varies to the extent of the learning experience: 1) the inclusion of adaptive software such as ALEKS or Khan Academy in classrooms; 2) online credit recovery programs where adaptive software is the primary way instruction is delivered and learning is assessed; 3) proficiency-based classrooms in schools that have not engaged in systemic reform; 4) systemic reforms of districts and schools; and 5) statewide conversion to competency education, which has a different set of issues from those districts and schools converting voluntarily. So a competency-based classroom in a competency-based school where there are going to be daily supports to help students who are not yet proficient is very different from a competency-based classroom in a school that still passes students along with Cs and Ds.<\/p>\n

DEFINITION OF MASTERY<\/strong> is based on what we expect for our students: 1) Demonstrating recall and comprehension; 2) Demonstrating the ability to use the skills at the level of analysis or 3) Demonstrating the ability to use the knowledge in new contexts; and 4) Developing those habits, 21st century or the unfortunately named \u201cnon-cognitive\u201d skills. The understanding varies a lot across adaptive software, classrooms, schools and districts. So again, comparing the level of mastery available with adaptive software might be very different from mastery that results from completing a challenging project.<\/p>\n

Researchers are going to have to create clear definitions as they design their research and evaluation, which means we are going to have to become very astute at understanding the research, what it tells us, and how to use it.\u00a0Below is the growing research, both completed and anticipated.<\/p>\n

Completed research<\/h4>\n

Center for Education Policy, Applied Research and Evaluation, University of Maine
\n<\/strong>A two-part study designed to compile data on the preliminary development, costs, and impacts of standards-based school programs and the progress Maine schools and school districts were making in transitioning to the new education system (with a deadline of the 2017-2018 school year).<\/p>\n