{"id":6320,"date":"2014-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-01T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/cw_post\/is-competency-based-education-feasible-without-a-guaranteed-viable-curriculum\/"},"modified":"2020-02-27T14:46:59","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T19:46:59","slug":"is-competency-based-education-feasible-without-a-guaranteed-viable-curriculum","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/is-competency-based-education-feasible-without-a-guaranteed-viable-curriculum\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Competency-Based Education Feasible Without a Guaranteed Viable Curriculum?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>Competency-based education has gathered much energy and momentum across the nation during the past year, evidenced by the increase in the research and policy forums addressing the subject. Accompanying the interest is a dawning realization that organizations cannot fully implement an authentic competency-based system under the auspices of the flawed paradigm that preceded it. Policy wonks are left scratching their heads, wondering how best to negotiate a middle ground between defects of the traditional model and the promise of a competency-based system (CBS). Unfortunately, there is no middle ground; just as there was no middle ground in moving from VHS to DVD, you just need to convert.<\/p>\n The fact is conversion to CBS cannot be a partial proposition. To do it properly requires an all-or-nothing commitment. It is becoming increasingly apparent that simply implementing a fragment of CBS such as a \u201cstandards-based report card\u201d does not constitute a competency-based system \u2013 it only constitutes a minor tweak to the traditional model. \u00a0Even educators who understand this are trapped amid the prevailing mixed signals, believing that to innovate even incrementally is better than not innovating at all. In reality, meaningful and real innovation in school districts is very challenging, given that past practices and policies to evaluate performance and productivity are based on status quo assumptions.\u00a0 In fact, even in school districts already leading the effort in implementing an authentic competency-based system, there continues to be fossilized and seemingly impenetrable barriers created by the old way of doing business that obfuscate and impede progress. In worst-case examples, the old way even creates inconsistent and regressive implementation of competency-based practices.<\/p>\n