Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education
This paper explores the issues state policy needs to address to support a transformation of K-12 education toward personalized, competency-based systems. It introduces four ‘threshold concepts’ that need to be considered for long-term success, including: certifying learning, assessment literacy, pedagogical innovations based on learning sciences, and meeting students where they are. This publication was written… Read More ›
Research Collaborative Seminar: Reducing Inequities Through Competency-Based Education
JFF’s very own Stephanie Krauss discusses her recent paper for Lumina Foundation on how competency-based education may help reduce our nation’s toughest inequities. Check out the discussion over how competency-based education is working—or not working—for our underserved learners in college. This webinar is part of a series hosted by the Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative which works to investigate, evaluate, and curate… Read More ›
Rethinking State Accountability to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Learning in K-12 Education
This issue brief from Aurora Institute shares state policy recommendations and resources for policymakers who are ready to rethink state accountability systems to support student-centered learning. With the passage of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states gain considerably more authority and autonomy over the design of school accountability systems. This shift in responsibility… Read More ›
Waukesha STEM Academy Series
This four-part series featuring Waukesha STEM Academy (WSA) is part of a series on personalized, proficiency-based education in Wisconsin. This blog post gives an introduction to what’s happening state-wide. WSA is a competency-based school with personalized learning for all 300 students it serves. It spans grades 6-8, but students move at their own pace and… Read More ›
Creating a Peer Coaching Program to Grow Student-Centered Learning (Part 1)
In southern Maine, the little corner of the world where I teach, coach and learn, we are in the midst of transitioning to a student-centered learning (SCL) model. The Biddeford School Department is a public, K-12 system serving 2,425 students. I am an instructional coach at the middle school and am in my second year… Read More ›
Competency-Based Education: Lessons Learned After a Decade of Transformation
It has been nearly a decade since Sanborn Regional School District in New Hampshire made the decision to shift to a competency-based system of learning. Having served as the high school principal during this transformation, I learned a great deal about what worked for us and what we would avoid if we had it to… Read More ›
Catalyzing Equity Through Culturally Responsive Education and Competency-Based Education
This article introduces a tool and video created by the Mastery Collaborative, a program of the Office of Postsecondary Readiness in the New York City Department of Education, to help educators improve equity in their classrooms and schools. The Mastery Collaborative has identified how practices of culturally responsive education go hand-in-hand with mastery-based learning practices, as… Read More ›
Exploring Student-Centered Learning in the ESSA State Plans
Many of us who research or implement student-centered learning approaches read with excitement that states now have the flexibility, under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), to include such approaches into their accountability requirements. With states required to submit their plans for implementation last month, we explored how many states chose to include student-centered learning… Read More ›
Student-Centered Learning Course Syllabus
Newsflash: Teachers are learners! Yet, the strategies we use to help teachers innovate their practices often get in the way of learning. It’s as if we’re still operating according to the old, tired adage: “Do as I say, not as I do.” To optimize teacher learning and magnify educators’ impact in the classroom, we need to start with the… Read More ›
Equity at the Center: A Tool for Assessing Communication about Teaching and Learning
This rubric was designed to help schools, districts, and intermediary organizations examine their digital and web-based communications, for example websites, digital resources and classroom tools, to ensure all stakeholders have an equal opportunity to access information. The tool grew out of work conducted by the Students at the Center Hub team to assess its own materials… Read More ›
Guide for Creating Trusted Learning Environments
The following guidebook was designed to help communities create positive and safe learning environments for students inside and outside of school, on and off-line. The classroom is moving beyond a physical space to include learning networks enabled by technologies. These environments should advance learning and foster innovation without sacrificing the safety of the learner. To achieve this,… Read More ›
Charting the Course for the Next Phase of K-12 Competency-Based Education
This webinar will discuss the recent iNACOL report on competency education, Quality and Equity by Design: Charting the Course for the Next Phase of K-12 Competency-Based Education. The report examines four key issues in the field which must be considered to continue to scale up competency education efforts with quality and sustain them over time:… Read More ›