The Afterschool and Out-of-School Time Coordinating Council: A Report to the Governor, House and Senate Comittee on Ways and Means, and Joint Committee on Education
This report details the need for more coordination of state and federal funding streams and the implementation of comprehensive policies to support the gains that have been made in ASOST programming in Massachusetts. In particular, the report details the strategies laid out by the working groups established by the Coordinating Council. Established in 2012, the… Read More ›
Continued Progress: Promising Evidence on Personalized Learning
This report examines achievement in 62 public charter and district schools that are pursuing a variety of personalized learning practices, and examines implementation details in 32 of those schools. Researchers obtained achievement data for personalized learning students and a matched comparison group of students attending other schools serving similar populations. They also collected and analyzed… Read More ›
What Are Teachers’ and School Leaders’ Major Concerns About New K–12 State Tests?
This report shares U.S. principals’ and teachers’ main concerns about testing, drawing upon new survey tools for understanding educators’ perspectives and implementation of major education policies: RAND’s American Teacher Panel and American School Leader Panel. The findings are drawn from the ATP and ASLP surveys fielded in February 2015, before the full administration of most… Read More ›
Measuring Hard-to-Measure Student Competencies
This report provides guidelines to promote thoughtful development of practical, high-quality measures of interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies that practitioners and policymakers can use to improve valued outcomes for students. Efforts to prepare students for college, careers, and civic engagement have traditionally emphasized academic skills, but a growing body of research suggests that interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies—such… Read More ›
The iNACOL State Policy Frameworks 2015: 5 Critical Issues to Transform K-12 Education
This policy brief from the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) provides concrete, actionable recommendations for state policymakers seeking to build competency education based on new learning models that allow personalization of instruction for each student. The iNACOL State Policy Frameworks covers five main issues: create competency-based education systems, improve student access and equity,… Read More ›
Advancing Competency-Based Pathways to College and Career Readiness
This state policy framework, focused on graduation requirements, assessment, and accountability, is designed to assist states in building a policy structure that contributes to statewide adoption and implementation of competency-based pathways (CBP) that support all students in reaching college and career readiness, as defined by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). CBP can help all… Read More ›
Accountability for College and Career Readiness Developing a New Paradigm
This report—due to preparation for new standards under the Common Core and states moving toward creating more aligned systems of assessment and accountability—recommends an accountability approach that focuses on meaningful learning, enabled by professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by adequate and appropriate resources, so that all students regardless of background are prepared for… Read More ›
Making Mastery Work: A Close-Up View of Competency Education
This report focuses on the experiences of students, teachers, and administrators in a select, but varied group of schools that are ahead of the curve in implementing competency education. A team of researchers spent a year and a half examining 11 high schools in New England. The report is organized in sections that provide both… Read More ›
Supporting Students: Investing in Innovation and Quality
This report describes the approach of the College Ready group at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It outlines five key design principles necessary for successful academic student supports. These include mastery with clear progress trajectories, feedback which occurs immediately, subject immersion using the real-world language and tools of the studied discipline, multiple experiences to learn and apply… Read More ›
Necessary for Success: Building Mastery of World-Class Skills – A State Policymakers Guide to Competency Education
This report by Susan Patrick and Chris Sturgis describes competency-based systems and reforms in districts and schools from Maine to Florida, and makes suggestions for education leaders around changing policy, fostering progressive public discourse, and supporting teachers. Source Organization: Nellie Mae Education Foundation Visit the Resource
An International Study in Competency Education: Postcards from Abroad
This report by Susan Patrick and Sara Frank Bristow highlights components of competency education in international practice, to inform U.S. policymakers and decision makers seeking to implement high-quality competency pathways at the state or local level. The report includes a brief lesson in the international vocabulary of competency education and explores practices in Finland, British Columbia… Read More ›
A K-12 Federal Policy Framework for Competency Education: Building Capacity for Systems Change
This report provides federal policymakers with a comprehensive vision for supporting state and local efforts to implement student-centered learning. The authors describe barriers and opportunities within federal education policy education policy frameworks, and identifies how the federal government is in a unique position to catalyze and scale student-centered learning. Source Organization: Nellie Mae Education Foundation Visit… Read More ›