What’s New in Competency-Based Higher Education?

News and Thought Leadership

• The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) partnered with Southern New Hampshire University’s College for America to offer small business owners and employees access to degrees at a reduced cost.
• A new network has emerged, called We Are Educators for Justice, which calls for racial equity in education.
• The Indiana Board of Accountancy updated its rules for renewing a CPA license, allowing competency-based education (as opposed to hours-based education) to count toward the requirement—a historic change in CPA licensure renewal requirements.
• Michael Horn explores the relationship between competency education and developing grit in students—asserting that pushing students to persevere requires a different educational model that better encourages and rewards risk-taking and exploration.
• Survey results on the spread of competency-based education indicated that CBE expands opportunities and enhances learning for nontraditional students, but the pace of adoption of competency-based courses and programs remains gradual. Here’s a link to the full study, released by ACE, Ellucian and Eduventures. 

CBE Programs

• The competency-based program at Texas A&M University—Commerce used predictive analytics to better understand transfer students and graduation rates, highlighting that CBE programs offer essential alternative pathways to support a wide range of student needs.
• Rasmussen College received approval to offer competency-based degree programs in business management and accounting.

New Resources

CBE Book on Assessment: A new book was published, titled Competency-based Education & Assessment: The Excelsior Experience, by Tina Goodyear, the Executive Director of the Center for the Assessment of Post-Traditional Learning at Excelsior College.

CBE Website Resource: Blackboard created a competency-based education research hub, which provides access to research and resources on competency education across different organizations.

CAEL Case Study: CAEL released a case study on Lord Fairfax Community College, focusing on its ‘Knowledge to Work’ initiative to establish new competency-based degree programs.

Publications

• Jobs for the Future released a new publication titled, Next-Generation CBE: Designing Competency-Based Education for Underprepared College Learners, an important resource for increasing access, equity and credential attainment.
• The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) released Innovate and Evaluate: Expanding the Research Base for Competency-Based Education, which examines over 380 journal articles on CBE, citing a significant opportunity to build on this evidence base through quantitative research.
• AEI also released New Funding, Aligned Incentives: How Private Financing Options Can Foster Higher Education Innovation.
• In a new report, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation posed that testing by outside groups and credentialing could create pressure on higher education and the traditional college degree. Here’s a link to the full report.

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