Some skeptics worry that changing student records will be a problem for college admissions. However, according to Ken O’Connor, Lee Ann Jung, and Douglas Reeves (2018), “a growing number of college admissions officers find grade-point averages to be of little use (Marklein, 2013)…. Grades do not typically represent student achievement but rather an amalgam of achievement, behavior, compliance, and test-taking skill” (p. 67). Many post-secondary educational institutions have developed alternatives to the grade-point average (GPA) for deciding on admissions, due to several factors. One is the growth of the homeschooling movement, which has no GPAs. Another is the growing number of high schools, districts, and even states that have adopted competency-based report cards (see Competency-Based Report Cards for an example). Furthermore, more than a thousand accredited colleges and universities are “test optional” or otherwise de-emphasize the use of standardized tests (FairTest, 2019). Some parents feel compelled to compare their student to others. To satisfy this need, they can compare the number of competencies mastered by their student in a given period.
Competency-Based Report Cards
From 1998 to 2004, New Hampshire launched competency-based education pilots in twenty-seven high schools. In July 2005, the New Hampshire State Department of Education allowed school boards to award credit based on either seat time or demonstrations of mastery of the required course competencies. For the 2008–2009 school year and beyond, the state required local school boards to adopt policies for all students to earn high school credit by demonstrating mastery of required competencies for a course, as approved by certified school personnel. For example, at Sanborn High School in Kingston, New Hampshire, all courses use a competency-based grading and student record system. Throughout this process the department sought to respect local control.
Source: New Hampshire Department of Education, n.d., 2016.
Systemic Requirements for CBE
Chris Sturgis and Katherine Casey (2018) identify the systemic nature of competency-based education by identifying sixteen design principles for CBE in three categories:
A. Purpose and Culture
1. Center the school around a shared purpose
2. Commit to equity
3. Nurture a culture of learning and inclusivity
4. Foster the development of a growth mindset
5. Cultivate empowering and distributed leadership
B. Teaching and Learning
6. Base school design and pedagogy on learning sciences
7. Activate student agency and ownership
8. Design for the development of rigorous higher-level skills
9. Ensure responsiveness
C. Structure
10. Seek intentionality and alignment
11. Establish mechanisms to ensure consistency and reliability
12. Maximize transparency
13. Invest in educators as learners
14. Increase organizational flexibility
15. Develop processes for continuous improvement and organizational learning
16. Advance upon demonstrated mastery
Source: Sturgis & Casey, 2018.
Detailed Guidance for Competency-Based Education
We recommend that you read all the sections titled Principles in chapters 1 through 6 before reading the Detailed Guidance section in any of those chapters, because the principles are so interrelated and interdependent that it is crucial to understand the big picture before getting into specific details. Any effort to move to PCBE that focuses on one core idea without making changes in other core ideas is likely to fail.
We begin with considerations for implementing the principles in the classroom, followed by school-level considerations, and finally district-level considerations.
Westminster Public Schools
The Westminster Public School District in Colorado is one of the leading school districts in the United States for implementing PCBE. It uses the New Art and Science of Teaching instructional model designed by Robert J. Marzano (2017). You can visit www.westminsterpublicschools.org/Page/9094 to learn more.
Classroom-Level Considerations
To implement competency-based education at the classroom level, your team must make decisions about student progress, assessment, learning targets, and student records. First think in the ideal for a long-term vision (step 2.1 in chapter 10, page 196), and then compromise as necessary for your initial implementation (step 2.3 in chapter 10, page 200).
Principle A: Competency-Based Student Progress
Your team needs to decide about moving from time-based student progress to learning-based student progress. Here is the main question you should consider.
How can we foster and assess each student’s learning individually, rather than having everyone learn the same content at the same time and take the same test at the same time?
Ideally, the teachers should find or, if necessary, create learning resources that students can use on their own. Several organizations provide a wide variety of learning resources, both free (called open educational resources; see Open Educational Resources) and for a fee. Teachers should also try to integrate their assessments with their instruction, as is done in Khan Academy (Thompson, 2011), where students practice a competency, progressing through five levels of mastery, until they reach a criterion of, say, ten practice items correct in a row (Khan Academy, n.d.). This way, the practice is the test—there is no need for a separate test.
Teachers can accomplish this by using online resources such as Khan Academy or Engage NY. If technology is not available for teachers, a second option is to have students work in pairs with explanation and demonstration sheets and practice worksheets accompanied by answer sheets with rubrics. One student uses the worksheet to do the practice, while the other student uses the answer sheet (with a rubric) to judge mastery and provide immediate feedback when the performance does not meet the criteria. To do this, teachers would need to find or prepare several sets of worksheets with at least twenty items on each, so that the second student wouldn’t use the same worksheet that the first student used. Generally, the faster learner should answer a worksheet first, because the slower learner will learn a lot while assessing and giving feedback to the other student.
If technology is not available to use online instruction and it is not feasible for teachers to create the needed worksheets for all the learning targets, then teachers will need to use large-group assessment and instruction, which will significantly weaken your move to competency-based education. You might consider holding off until a more suitable solution is feasible.
Open Educational Resources (OERs)
Amazon Education (https://amzn.to/2MaVsGZ) offers a variety of services, including Amazon Inspire, which provides educators—regardless