{"id":6815,"date":"2016-02-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-22T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/cw_post\/advancing-students-when-they-are-ready-2\/"},"modified":"2020-02-05T12:57:36","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T17:57:36","slug":"advancing-students-when-they-are-ready-2","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/advancing-students-when-they-are-ready-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Advancing Students When They are Ready"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Florida\"This post originally appeared on the Foundation for Excellence in Education\u2019s Ed Fly Blog<\/a> on January 4, 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that ExcelinEd is excited about Competency-Based Education<\/a>\u2014the new approach to learning that allows to students to advance as they master course material.<\/p>\n

Politico Florida<\/em> recently reported that with guidance from the Foundation for Florida\u2019s Future (ExcelinEd\u2019s sister organization), three school districts in Florida have already begun implementing competency-based education pilot programs. Now it\u2019s time for Florida lawmakers to remove existing barriers to competency-based learning in the state so more students can benefit from this strategy.<\/p>\n

Check out an excerpt from the piece below, or head to Politico Florida<\/em><\/a> for the full article.<\/p>\n

\u2026Florida is in a particularly strong position to implement competency-based learning because schools here have already implemented many of the components. The state\u2019s schools have prioritized acquiring technological devices and offering online coursework, for example. There are policies that allow students to earn credit for some courses just by passing end-of-course exams or earn college credit while in high school through Advanced Placement or community college courses. Students may graduate high school early.<\/p>\n

But educators have identified major barriers to full implementation of competency-based learning: testing requirements and state funding that\u2019s based on attendance.<\/p>\n

Lake County Schools won a $3.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to implement the program, which the district launched this academic year in some grades within two elementary schools, one middle school and two high schools. Administrators hope to implement the program in all grades in those schools in four years.<\/p>\n

Most of the grant dollars are funding professional development for teachers, said Kathy Halbig, the district\u2019s coordinator for personalized learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big thing that we need help from the Legislature on is pacing,\u201d Halbig said. \u201cWhat that means is, if a student is really gifted in math, there should be opportunities for that student to deepen or enrich or move forward in that content area. Our goal isn\u2019t to have second graders graduate, but if students really are gifted, we want them to be able to move as deeply into the material as they are able. We don\u2019t want them to be held back by \u2018teacher pace.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would love it if we had an opportunity for students to take end-of-course testing when they actually finish,\u201d she said. \u201cSome students might finish in October, some students might finish in November; students progress based on mastery of standard rather than on seat time\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the complete piece at Politico Florida<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

See also:<\/p>\n