What Educators Have to Say About Competency-Based Education

   We have undergone a districtwide transition to standards-based grading and reporting over the last five years. Grades better reflect what students know, and students and parents can see which learning targets students have mastered and on which targets students need intervention.

   We have just begun to explore the idea of demonstrating proficiency rather than seat time. The struggle we have found is changing mindsets about grades and then how does this affect scholarships, valedictorians, etc.?

   Times have changed significantly and the pandemic exacerbated this. We are essentially an on-demand society. We stream our entertainment, order food delivery, buy our clothing online, etc. Our educational systems are as traditional as the assembly lines at a factory. We need to adapt our systems so they are a better reflection of society.

   We are currently piloting competency-based education in our alternative program and the increase in engagement and motivation from students has increased.

   I truly believe that elementary school should be based on skills-based learning and students should not have grade levels. I wrote many papers about this. Then you wouldn’t have high school students who can’t read, write, or do arithmetic.

   The U.S. needs educational reform. For decades, I have seen many costly programs implemented, high-stakes testing mandatory, and other changes. Not many have had a great impact. I believe competency-based education is worth a try.

   I’m not sure I understand why the concept of mastery has to be disconnected from grades. Couldn’t grades be driven by mastery? I think grades are important data assuming used correctly—i.e. to reflect skills acquisition and true mastery—and not inflated to please students and parents.

   This competency-based education model is utter BS. No deadlines, endless retakes. We are not teaching them habits of life after school.

   We can adjust pedagogical styles, types, and approaches continually, but unless we require students to actually attend school, we will be unsuccessful. I teach about 125 students per day, and absences average 10-12 per day. I am constantly giving, collecting, and grading makeup work. It doesn't matter what or how I teach if students aren't here to learn.

   As teachers, we know how broken the grading system is and would much prefer ways to give feedback and show proficiency over giving an arbitrary B—when, what does a B actually mean?

   I think standards-based grading is a great idea, but if it's not implemented smoothly, it could be a disaster.

   Our kindergartners receive grades based on standards-based assessments. It would be nice to see more of this rather than traditional report cards. Teachers are opposed to this mostly due to lack of knowledge or not wanting to change. I feel the same issues would undermine competency-based evaluations.

   We tried more standards-based grading, which I compare to competency-based grading, and it did not work well at all. Students were not prepared for the high stakes of needing to actually know information.

   My school is currently utilizing standards-based grading. Our students have no motivation to do any of the work because they don't see any value in it. The amount of students who don't try at all has increased since we have instituted the change. Parents do not understand our grading system and because of that they don't push their child to do better. I want to have a place where students learn what they want and at their own pace but based on what I am currently seeing in the classroom, I'm not sure it is possible.

   My district has sponsored several cohorts for training competency-based learning, and I was fortunate to be able to participate in that. Unfortunately, the things that middle management is pressuring building principals to do related to data collection and monitoring are not compatible with implementing competency-based learning schoolwide or districtwide. Also, it's difficult to abandon traditional grades when colleges want to see student transcripts with GPAs as part of the admissions process.

   Seat time is an outdated concept. So much time is just burned for no purpose (last several days of the year, time after standardized exams like AP, busy work rather than applied learning.)

   My district is small so we have only one class at each grade level. At the MS/HS level, each course is offered one time during the day. While competency-based learning has merit, it would appear to be difficult to implement across our school. However, if a small rural district with limited staff has done this well across K-12 levels it would be beneficial to view this model.

   Years ago, the school that I was working at tried switching over to a mastery-learning approach. We had some setbacks due to the way grades are calculated for end-of-year reports. Even though we attempted to move away from numbers grading, in the end we had to convert final grades to a number-based system. There were a lot of factors outside of our control in relation to moving forward with mastery-based competencies. In addition, parents and students still wanted a final numeric grade. They were not as concerned about mastering a given topic.

   Traditional grades are a bad tradition that we should move away from. However, students, parents, and teachers are so entrenched in the tradition of A to F grades that it is nearly impossible to move away from it. On my own in-class level, I have some success by not fixating on 'how to get a good grade on this.' Instead, I emphasize 'how to do a good job on this.'

   The consistency of teaching to learn the subject and move on is great in theory but a scheduling nightmare in high school. If they pass Algebra I in six weeks instead of nine, would they move on to geometry but with their Algebra I teacher?

   Mastery learning breaks the mold of the walls of education. We are paid for 13 years for kids on a per-student basis. If that student finishes in 11 years, they put significant financial hurt on the home district.

   Parents are the biggest barrier to changing educational practices in grading. Parent groups organize on social media and will spread misinformation. We offer many parent workshops and forums for in-person dialogue. Very few parents show up. Most will come to be entertained at athletic events, concerts, plays or see their child get recognized, but important education policy issues get scant attention.

   Our elementary school is transitioning to standards-based grading. It started with our kindergarten group two years ago, and followed them into 1st grade, then will continue into 2nd grade next school year. I am a huge fan of this shift in mindset and grading policy, where it reveals each student's mastery level of each state standard, versus the traditional assignment of an overall letter/number grade. I feel that this shift is a much better representation of a child's knowledge. There has been pushback from some parents, but overall it has been a positive experience.

   Our district leaders did once have a great deal of support for standards-based grading. They even implemented it in several schools. Teachers and students seemed to thrive but parents were not happy as it did not allow the traditional way for the school to track the upper students’ grades for college admission, scholarships, etc.

   Standards-based grading was implemented in a school in our community, and there was poor rollout from the school—parents did not understand what the report cards meant, and other schools in the area (including mine) didn’t know how to interpret student achievement or content mastery.