What’s New in Competency-Based Education

Coming Up

• Mastery Assessment Week starts August 27 – 31. Share your resources and ideas at #masteryweek.
• iNACOL/ComptencyWorks is sponsoring a webinar Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education is coming up soon. Join Maria Worthen for a lively discussion about the the type of system we need to support competency-based education on August 28 at 2-3 ET. (register here)
• Transforming Learning Collaborative is holding a conference October 4-5 in El Segundo CA. There is also an opportunity to join a Transforming Learning Incubator for longer term professional learning.  

• The Unexpected Challenge and Reward of Owning My Learning
  The Astonishing Power in Learning How to Learn
• Lucky Me: The Unexpected Opportunity that Put My Town on the Map
• This is What Happens When Learning in an Atmosphere of Self-Discovery

• In From Compliance to Engagement to Agency a Spanish teacher shares her experience in creating a personalized classroom.
• LEAP Innovations has produced a video, Building the Future of Education, Together, of school leaders and teachers talking about their experience in transforming their schools.

• ExcelinEd released Transitioning to Student-Centered Learning: Higher Education Requirements Policy Brief
• KnowledgeWorks offers downloadable posters on growth mindset and has developed a toolkit for facilitators on Building Support for Student-Centered Learning: A Toolkit for Exploring the Future

• A new study was released regarding the importance of the growth mindset for high schoolers in Reducing the ‘Toxic Stress’ of High Schoolers
• NGLC offers overviews of a number of key issues including social capital and students as co-creators of learning.
• Journeys to Personalized Learning produced by FSG looks at three districts (all highlighted at CompetencyWorks: Henry County; District 51 and CICS West Belden.
• Christensen Institute has developed a market map of ed tech that connects students to adults.
• Great summary by Getting Smart: The Research Base for Formative Assessment

• NGLC  highlighted Building 21 (or read similar article at Ed Week). Also see co-founder Chip Linehan’s piece Building 21: Designing a Network for Competency-Based Education.
• Ed Surge takesa look at West Belden in Distinctively Equitable
• KnowledgeWorks highlighted District 51’s R5 and Kenowa Hills.

• The Mastery Transcript Consortium is sending ripples internationally.
• A retired educator took the time to reflect on D51’s achievements. It’s a practice we should all do at least once a year.

• Some schools are moving towards competency-based education.

• Dougherty County Schools is one of 10 districts participating in an initiative to pilot new systems of assessment in Georgia.

• The Kentucky Depart­ment of Education is working on better aligning high school graduation requirements with the concept of college and career readiness.

• NGLC is sponsoring school visits for district and schools in Massachusetts. They will be visiting Colorado, San Diego, and Portland, Maine in 2018–19 to learn about personalized, competency-based learning with support from the Barr Foundation. Applications will be accepted through September 7, 2018.

• Northern Cass School District is exploring new ways of organizing grade levels.   

• The Office of Personalized Learning of the South Carolina Department of Education is revisiting how professional development is delivered with teacher inquiry labs.

• Boston Day and Evening is highlighted in Social and Emotional Learning: What We Can Learn from Alternative Schools by Betsy Brand
• Michael Horn challenges the need for gifted and talented programs in personalized schools in his article Let’s retire the ‘gifted-and-talented’ label.
• New Schools Venture Fund released an issue brief Embracing and Measuring an Expanded Definition of Student Success.
• All4Ed released the report Science of Adolescent Learning.
• Ed Surge’s article on Turning ‘Google Maps for Education’ from Metaphor to Reality outlines a set of steps to creating a system designed around competencies.