Competency-based education is slowly catching on, with the help of policies that give permission for schools in every state to adopt it.
But the learning model—a series of non-traditional approaches to education that allow students to learn to some extent at their own pace, make more choices about what and how they learn, and often decide how they demonstrate what they’ve learned—still has a long way to go before it’s a household name, according to a survey of district leaders, school leaders, and teachers conducted this spring by the EdWeek Research Center.
Half of respondents to the nationally representative survey said they’ve either read about competency-based education but never practiced or even observed it, or read about and observed it but never tried it themselves. Another 26 percent said they’d never heard of it.
These numbers suggest district leaders eager to implement competency-based learning may be able to capitalize on growing awareness of the approach. But they’ll need to be deliberate about bringing up to speed educators who are still new to the concept.
School administrators often have a tendency to communicate well as they’re launching initiatives around competency-based education, but neglect to keep up that communication once those efforts have been underway for a few years, said Rebecca Wolfe, vice president of impact and improvement at the nonprofit KnowledgeWorks, which helps schools expand and launch personalized learning efforts.
“Three years in, we really find you still need to be doing that strategic approach to communication—understanding who has gotten the message and who hasn’t,” Wolfe said during a Sept. 26 webinar, citing the organization’s research.
Competency-based education, proficiency-based learning, mastery-based learning, personalized learning, student-centered education, and standards-based education are all terms that refer to the same instructional model: one in which students make choices about how they learn and demonstrate their knowledge, learn at a pace that might differ from their classmates’, receive individualized support based on their needs, and progress based on their mastery of course material instead of seat time.
See the Aurora Institute’s definition of competency-based education for more details.
Most educators haven’t tried competency-based education yet—but many want to
Most educators still don’t have hands-on experience with competency-based education, according to the EdWeek Research Center survey, which included responses from 868 educators and was administered online from May 29 to June 19.
Seven percent said they’ve tried it or fully implemented it and want to continue. Another 6 percent said they’ve either tried it or fully implemented it and want to stop.
But a strong majority of respondents (56 percent) said they’re interested in learning more about competency-based education. Another 13 percent said they know something about it and would like to try it.
Educators who are heavily involved in efforts to promote personalized and competency-based learning in their own districts and states say an organic approach is better for districts to pursue than a top-down mandate.
In the Mesa, Ariz., school district, the superintendent didn’t require anyone to participate in efforts to introduce competency-based learning approaches into classrooms, Maria James, an elementary science teacher in the district, said during the KnowledgeWorks webinar.
Instead, the superintendent there created what James called a “coalition of the willing,” inviting administrators and teachers to show up and get involved as they pleased. That approach appears to have paid off—many schools in the district now have standards-based grading and career pathway options that guide students’ course selections, James said.
Like it or not, competency-based education is coming
Nearly 60 percent of respondents said they expect their district will at least begin working on competency-based education initiatives in the next five years.
Twenty-eight percent said educators in their district will have incorporated some elements of competency-based education into everyday instruction but not changed structurally to adopt the model. Seventeen percent said teacher training on competency-based learning will have begun.
And another 13 percent of educators said they’ve either already started using it and expect to continue, or haven’t started yet but expect they will have fully implemented it within five years.
Wolfe from KnowledgeWorks raised one potential obstacle: Several states have passed laws that restrict schools from crafting programs with a mission of promoting “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
Her team has found that larger districts have found ways to keep equity a focus of competency-based education even with those policies in place. One larger district, for instance, requires an Equity 101 course for all staff, she said. But some smaller districts—particularly those with homogenous student populations—did not, she said.
Schools face myriad challenges shifting to competency-based education
Even as educators brace for competency-based education to become a bigger part of their daily experience at work, they have plenty of reservations.
Slightly more than half of respondents to the EdWeek Research Center survey said teachers don’t know how to do it. Half of respondents said they’re worried about how students who transfer in and out of schools using competency-based education will be affected. And 46 percent said state-mandated exams may prove challenging for some students if they’re learning at different paces.
Only 5 percent of respondents said they couldn’t think of any potential drawbacks.
A successful competency-based learning initiative leans on support from a wide variety of partners, including state agencies and nonprofits, Ann Ellefson, director of academic support for the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, said during the webinar.
“In education we never know enough. We never have all the answers,” Ellefson said. “We do lean on other partners to come in and support our learning.”
