Dive Brief:
- An AIR study of schools that had adopted competency-based education policies and those that had not found unequal implementation in classrooms that made strict comparisons unhelpful but highlighted where CBE strategies truly impact students.
- Competency-based education practices — where teachers set clear learning targets and grade students based on mastery rather than time spent in the classroom — improve students’ intrinsic motivation. And varied and flexible instruction helps students develop self-regulated learning skills, according to the report.
- When learning targets were clear to students, it favorably affected the greatest number of learning capacities, including intrinsic motivation, locus of control, self-management, perception of mastery in math and English, and preparation.
Dive Insight:
A 2015 report by iNACOL found 42 states were planning, piloting or implementing CBE programs in their K-12 public schools. But an important finding of the AIR report, while unexpected, was that even schools that did not have explicit adoption of CBE initiatives still had CBE strategies in use in their classrooms. And schools that were supposed to be fully focused on the CBE model had uneven application day-to-day.
Competency-based education moves away from the idea that seat time is the best way to measure student learning and mark progress. Educators know students learn at different paces. CBE programs build that into instruction, providing the support to catch up students who may be behind their peers and allow advanced students to continue ahead. Administrators who commit to these programs must provide the proper training for teachers to ensure programs labeled as CBE actually look like it in the classroom.