Assessment literacy is important for practitioners, and it is also important for policymakers and stakeholders throughout the system to understand the roles that different types of assessment play in student learning, how assessment and moderation are used to comparatively and fairly judge student mastery and how the information generated by assessments can be used toward a cycle of continuous improvement in teaching and learning. The lack of assessment literacy across the system is a major blind spot. Thus, building significant capacity for assessment literacy is needed to advance new competency-based approaches and address tough issues in our current system.

An important concept in assessment is comparability; that is the degree to which assessment results intended to measure the same learning targets produce the same or similar results. This involves documenting the reliability of judgments and not assuming that comparability is stable over time or invariant across multiple subgroups, such as English learners and special education students.

There are unique circumstances in the U.S. education system that have driven the need for much greater degrees of comparability than is true in most other nations. When the federal government became involved in K-12 education with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, it was in direct response to deep inequities that have remained in the wake of desegregation. Because of the history of inequities in education offerings among student groups, concerns for equity are much greater than in many other countries. This circumstance drives, to a significant extent, the degree to which we need to take greater care that measures are fair and have common meaning among students, schools and districts. This drives the prevalence of standardized tests in our country, causing the concept of assessment to often be conflated with the end-of-year, statewide, summative accountability tests.

Practitioners working deeply in competency-based learning models quickly realized that current K-12 education systems lack systems for calibrating the quality of student work to ensure there is significant consistency in determining proficiency across schools and systems. Building professional educator capacity and policymakers’ understanding of assessment literacy is fundamental to shifting to personalized, competency-based systems at scale and with equity.

Personalized, competency-based learning requires us to reorganize systems around doing what it takes to ensure every student is attaining mastery. Redesigned systems will need to build capacity for clear evaluation criteria to make valid and reliable comparisons of students’ progress against outcomes (commonly understood outcomes) using evidence and common rubrics.

This process of developing clear expectations for common proficiency levels is a key part of a “calibration.” Calibration is a process that allows two or more things to be compared via a common standard (e.g., a weight in the physical sciences or commonly scored papers in an education system). The purpose of common performance tasks given to students by different schools and districts is to serve as a “calibration weight;” a way to compare the way one school or district scores students on the common task, with the way other schools and districts score those same students’ work.

To use the common performance tasks as calibration weights, districts need to re-score other districts’ common performance tasks. Calibrating expectations as well as grading and scoring processes for learning goals is very important in competency-based learning systems. Calibration may involve groups of educators who collaborate and develop consensus around rubrics for scoring student work. The calibration process makes scoring student work consistent and more aligned to the standards upon which rubrics and scoring criteria are based, as well as creating reflective processes focused on improving student learning.

In addition to calibration processes for consistently and accurately evaluating student work, assessment literacy also includes knowing which assessments are appropriate for what purpose (e.g., formative, progress monitoring or summative). This idea of common expectations—and evaluating evidence against common standards and rubrics to build and evaluate comparability across schools and systems—requires careful moderation of assessment practices across the system and perhaps across the state level. The capacity of educators to assess student evidence using calibration processes and developing rubrics with scales for evaluating performance tasks against criteria is central to a competency-based education system. A competency-based learning system that offers personalized pathways for students to meet learning goals and learning targets must rely on multiple forms of evidence against common standards and expectations.

Learn more about assessment literacy, balanced systems of assessments and developing next-generation accountability models in the paper Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education.

Follow this blog series for more key insights:

• Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education
• Threshold Concept: Certifying Learning to Ensure Student Success and Career Pathways
• Issue to Tackle for Certifying Learning: Meaningful Qualifications
• Issue to Tackle for Certifying Learning: Redefining Student Success

Learn more:

• Webinar: Assessment Literacy to Support Competency- Based Education Systems and Other Deeper Learning Efforts
• Toolkit from KnowledgeWorks and the Center for Assessment: InnovativeAssessments.org
• Report: Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education
• Report: Current to Future State: Issues and Action Steps for State Policy to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Learning
• Issue Brief: Redefining Student Success: Profile of a Graduate
• Issue Brief: Redesigning Systems of Assessments for Student-Centered Learning
• Issue Brief: Rethinking State Accountability to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Learning in K-12 Education
• Issue Brief: State Strategies to Develop Teacher Capacity for Personalized, Competency-Based Learning
• Issue Brief: State Policy & K-12 Competency-Based Education
• Report: Not as Easy as it Sounds: Designing a Balanced Assessment System
• Assessment for Learning Project
• Blog: How States Can Transform Systems of Assessments to Support Teachers and Students
• National Summit on K-12 Competency-Based Education

Follow us on social media: @nacol, @SusanDPatrick, @mariaworthen, @DaleKFrost, @ntruongedu

The post Threshold Concept: Building Capacity for Assessment Literacy in Personalized, Competency-Based Education appeared first on iNACOL.

On July 23, Congress voted to pass a bill to reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins Act) and on July 31, President Trump signed into law, the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, providing states with the opportunity to advance competency-based pathways in career and technical education (CTE) programs.

The Perkins Act aims to “develop more fully the academic and career and technical skills” of secondary and postsecondary students in preparation for further education through grants to improve career and technical education programs. The reauthorized Perkins Act emphasizes the role of CTE programs to focus on career pathways. These updates include:

• Aligning CTE programs to the needs of regional, state and local labor markets;
• Supporting effective and meaningful collaboration between secondary and postsecondary institutions and employers;
• Increasing student participation in experiential learning opportunities (i.e., internships, apprenticeships and promoting the use of industry-recognized credentials); and
• Ensuring that traditionally underserved students, including English Language Learners and students with disabilities, receive the supports they need to succeed.

Perkins and Personalized, Competency-Based Education

CTE is compatible with personalized, competency-based educational models, including through experiential learning, self-directed pathways anchored in student career interests and opportunities that allow students to demonstrate mastery of skills and knowledge necessary for success in college, career and civic life.

The Perkins Act reauthorization gives states a new opportunity to strengthen postsecondary transitions through competency-based career and technical education pathways. Multiple pathways are an essential component of student-centered learning systems as they can increase student engagement and ownership of learning while improving outcomes for postsecondary and career readiness.

The reauthorization includes several provisions that states could use to better align CTE systems to competency education, including:

• Defining career and technical education to mean organized education activities that can include competency-based education;
• Allowing program funding from the state (10 percent set aside) to go toward “the creation, evaluation, and support of competency-based curricula;” and
• Expanding opportunities at the local level for students to participate in competency-based education programs.

States can advance student-centered learning through the Perkins Act. They can support student success by providing access to dual enrollment and early college through technical education and by supporting career exploration. States can also align industry-recognized credentials and arrange courses in a program of study so that students can build from foundation competency to more advanced levels.

Learn more:

• Achieve: Advancing Competency-Based Pathways to College and Career Readiness
• KnowledgeWorks: Capitalizing on Potential: Scaling Early College High Schools
• Jobs for the Future: Pathways to Prosperity Network Case Study Series

The post Opportunities for Competency Education in the Reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Act appeared first on iNACOL.

Moving to a future state of an equitable K-12 education system requires that we consider and perhaps rethink what students need to know and be able to do to achieve success. It also requires that we set a vision and foundation for achieving success throughout the state education system.

Here we dig into the second issue to tackle related to certifying learning: broadening the definition of student success. This post builds off previous blogs in a series related to our publication, Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education.

How can the high school diploma align to a more comprehensive definition of success?

There are design flaws in our current system that are often absent from current debates. A common concept emerging in global education systems is the term “curriculum redesign,” which is fundamentally asking the question, “What do our students need to know and be able to do?” — especially with respect to a more holistic notion of student success for the future. Whether a community conversation or a state conversation, the idea of engaging communities and families in conversations around what is different and around what students need to know and be able to do, is increasingly important.

How could we think differently about a broader set of outcomes? These outcomes would consider academic knowledge and skills, and competencies such as learning how to learn, lifelong learning (which includes how to set goals personally, academically, professionally and attain them), social emotional skills, empathy, compassion and cultural responsiveness. Lastly, it includes navigating an increasingly complex world with problem-solving, communication and self-efficacy skills to actively engage in civil society and democracy.

The curriculum redesign process asks: “What should students learn to succeed in the 21st century?” From Asia to Europe, from Australia and New Zealand, to Africa and India and across the provinces of Canada, there is a deep and complex debate in communities around what students need to know and be able to do. In contrast, conversations in policy in the United States occur largely around standards and graduation requirements. However, they are based on limited definitions of success centered around content proficiency. States can begin to engage districts and communities around what students need to master for true preparedness, and the implications for rethinking outdated accountability models.

We need to think about redesigning education with new models of active, inquiry-based pedagogy to move forward with more holistic, learner-centered, competency-based learning models that help students gain the knowledge and skills they need to thrive after high school graduation. Once local communities have a shared understanding of what student success looks like, they can drive state-level understanding of curriculum redesign and the implications for new accountability models, new designs for assessments and new school models. They can also work on building systems capacity (and greater coherence).

An important concept for policymakers to consider, as they identify their theory of action for driving changes to the systems surrounding curriculum, instruction and assessment, is how to redefine success and how it could be used to drive system coherence. In countries with high-performing education systems, “curriculum” is a broader concept that encompasses much more than academic content standards. It reflects knowledge and skills in higher order thinking, academics and lifelong learning. Curriculum may also be linked to qualifications frameworks, which define the competencies necessary for success in career pathways.

Through redefining success, everyone — students, parents, educators and policymakers — can understand what students should know and be able to do upon graduation. District and community stakeholders can be engaged in conversations on outcomes for student learning. A statewide vision and mission for student success can create alignment and coherence between state education systems and support the shift to competency-based education models that ensure all students graduate ready to succeed during and beyond K-12 education.

Learn more about redefining student success in the paper Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education.

Follow this blog series for more key insights:

• Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education
• Threshold Concept: Certifying Learning to Ensure Student Success and Career Pathways
• Issue to Tackle for Certifying Learning: Meaningful Qualifications

Learn more:

• Report: Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education
• Report: Current to Future State: Issues and Action Steps for State Policy to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Learning
• Issue Brief: Redefining Student Success: Profile of a Graduate
• Issue Brief: Redesigning Systems of Assessments for Student-Centered Learning
• Issue Brief: Rethinking State Accountability to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Learning in K-12 Education
• Issue Brief: State Strategies to Develop Teacher Capacity for Personalized, Competency-Based Learning
• Issue Brief: State Policy & K-12 Competency-Based Education
• Blog: Assessment Literacy to Support Competency-based Education Systems and other Deeper Learning Efforts
• Report: Not as Easy as it Sounds: Designing a Balanced Assessment System
• Assessment for Learning Project
• Blog: How States Can Transform Systems of Assessments to Support Teachers and Students
• National Summit on K-12 Competency-Based Education

Join the conversation:

• Follow us on Twitter: @nacol, @SusanDPatrick, @mariaworthen, @DaleKFrost, @ntruongedu

The post Issue to Tackle for Certifying Learning: Redefining Student Success appeared first on iNACOL.

Across the country, there are thousands of leaders and educators who have deep expertise in competency education who could make valuable contributions to advance competency-based education (CBE) and lead important conversations on key issues. Thus, CompetencyWorks has committed to adopting a participatory process by which many people can participate and contribute to the development of key issues in a transparent way through Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs).

CompetencyWorks is hosting a TAG for Professional Learning & Competency-Based Education, during which we will share a draft document through Google Docs and ask TAG participants to share their insights and reflections at some point during the one-week virtual session, running July 16-20, 2018. You can sign up to join the TAG here, and please consider sharing this opportunity with your peers and networks. (We only ask that all TAG participants have at least one year of experience in competency education.)

We will hold a phone call on July 16 at 12 p.m. Eastern time to provide an overview of the TAG process and introduce the key ideas in the draft framing paper.

TAG Topic: Professional Learning & Competency-Based Education

This TAG will focus on professional learning for K-12 competency-based education and will seek to:

• Understand critical differences between professional development in traditional and competency-based education systems;
• Visualize key elements of a possible future state for professional development in a high-quality competency-based education system and identify best practices in professional development for competency-based education;
• Anticipate and understand the shifts in professional development needed to transition to and eventually sustain competency-based education; and
• Identify possible entry points and strategies at multiple levels of practice.

How to Participate

The TAG is open to professionals who have at least one year of experience in competency-based education. (We don’t mean online learning; at CompetencyWorks, we focus on competency education as a system that ensures students demonstrate mastery before advancing. CBE serves as a structural foundation that replaces the traditional structure of sorting kids in school.). We invite you to join this Technical Advisory Group by signing up here.

Please note: TAGs are not designed to support people just learning about competency education. We suggest that those of you who are new to the topic start by reading case studies of districts and schools to get started. You will have an opportunity to learn from these conversations as a report based on professional learning will be published in fall 2018.

How the TAG Works

We are setting up a virtual conversation using a Google Doc. TAG participants can visit the document anytime during the week of the TAG to leave suggestions and comments. We will do our best to incorporate your ideas in real time. At the end of the week, we will do final revisions to produce a briefing paper on this key issue.

Here’s a more detailed look at the process:

1. I will share a document link with registered TAG participants to provide a draft of the issue paper.
2. There will be a phone call at 12 p.m. ET on July 16 to launch the TAG and explain this process.
3. During July 16-20, TAG participants will provide insights on the draft document throughout this assigned one-week virtual session directly in the document.
4. CompetencyWorks and partners will make real-time changes to the papers based on the shared insights and feedback, so we hope TAG participants can check in multiple times throughout the week as ideas develop.
5. After the one-week session, CompetencyWorks and partners will incorporate feedback into revised papers.

Take Advantage of This Opportunity

Please consider taking advantage of the TAG to engage your organization, professional learning community and networks in exploring what professional learning in K-12 competency-based education looks like. You can use the ideas in the TAG paper to catalyze conversation and bring your collective ideas to the TAG. Here’s a sample tweet in case you’d like to share this opportunity on Twitter:

• The @nacol @CompetencyWorks initiative is hosting a Technical Advisory Group on #ProfessionalLearning & #K12 #CompetencyEd. ISO experts. Learn more, sign up, & share: https://www.inacol.org/news/invitation-to-participate-in-professional-learning-competency-based-education-tag-july-16-20-2018/ | Click to tweet.

Katherine Casey is founder and principal of Katherine Casey Consulting.

The post Invitation to Participate in Professional Learning & Competency-Based Education TAG July 16-20, 2018 appeared first on iNACOL.

Not only do high school diplomas need to certify mastery of academic competencies, but they also need to certify mastery of a comprehensive set of skills, knowledge and dispositions students need to succeed after high school. More meaningful qualifications can promote active, inquiry-based pedagogy with more holistic, learner-centered models to ensure students gain the knowledge and skills they need to thrive after high school.

Currently, most high school diplomas in the United States are based on transcripts that reflect credit for academic subjects based on meeting minimum seat-time requirements (or Carnegie units) and a passing grade, which may or may not signify mastery of the content. There is wide variability in grading practices and in the knowledge attained in given subjects, which is evidenced by high remediation rates in entry-level college courses. College faculty often cite the underpreparedness of high school graduates for the rigor of college courses. Today, the only thing we can know for sure about a high school graduate in most U.S. school districts is that they have put in the required seat time in the requisite courses. When schools are passing students along and graduating them with major gaps in skills and knowledge, they are doing students a disservice.

How could the high school diploma align to a more comprehensive definition of success and be more transparent about achievement? This is one area where state policy makers and communities can take action. Whether a community conversation or a state conversation, the idea of engaging communities and families in conversations around what is different in the 21st century, and around what students need to know and be able to do, is increasingly important. A more meaningful high school credential would focus on the knowledge, skills and competencies a student has earned based on evidence of mastery.

A conversation on creating meaningful qualifications could help states and communities to answer the following questions:

• What would a more innovative high school diploma look like?
• How can we create multiple pathways for students to engage in learning, including in the community, in museums, in internships and in place-based learning, with formal and informal learning opportunities inside and beyond classrooms?
• How would a meaningful qualification, with a comprehensive e-portfolio, be valued and useful for entry to the next level of education, career pathway and lifelong learning?
• How would this shift the focus toward ensuring students have targeted supports to reach future goals and success? and
• How would this expand rich learning experiences that spark creativity and a thirst for lifelong learning?

There are alternatives to the American system of time-based credits and transcripts. Let’s challenge ourselves to rethink this — and create a meaningful credential that certifies knowledge and skills on mastery!  Competency replacing Carnegie is the big idea.

Learn more about meaningful qualifications in Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education, and stay tuned for the next installment in this blog series.

Follow this blog series for more key insights:

• Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education
• Threshold Concept: Certifying Learning to Ensure Student Success and Career Pathways

For more information:

• Report: Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education
• Report: Current to Future State: Issues and Action Steps for State Policy to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Learning
• Issue Brief: Redefining Student Success: Profile of a Graduate
• Issue Brief: Redesigning Systems of Assessments for Student-Centered Learning
• Issue Brief: Rethinking State Accountability to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Learning in K-12 Education
• Issue Brief: State Strategies to Develop Teacher Capacity for Personalized, Competency-Based Learning
• Issue Brief: State Policy & K-12 Competency-Based Education
• UNESCO Qualifications Framework
• National Summit on K-12 Competency-Based Education
• Blog: Assessment Literacy to Support Competency-based Education Systems and other Deeper Learning Efforts

Join the conversation:

Follow us on social media: @nacol, @SusanDPatrick, @mariaworthen, @DaleKFrost, @ntruongedu

The post Issue to Tackle for Certifying Learning: Meaningful Qualifications appeared first on iNACOL.

iNACOL President and CEO Susan Patrick issued a statement commending the bipartisan effort passing the Strengthening Career and Technical Education Act for the 21st Century, which was last authorized by Congress in 2006.

Click here to read the full statement.

The post Senate HELP Committee Moves Forward on Perkins Reauthorization appeared first on iNACOL.

One of the most frequent questions district leaders and state policymakers ask of us is how other states are funding the capacity needed to support the transformation to innovative models of personalized, competency-based education.

To that end, today we’ve published a new issue brief, State Funding Strategies to Support Education Innovation, describing how eight states have approached funding innovation in K-12 education. In addition, we offer state policymakers five action steps to fund state-level capacity-building activities for personalized, competency-based learning.

To realize the goal of education system transformation, a sustained commitment to investing in innovation is critical. Innovation funding can provide for important capacity-building activities such as:

• Professional development,
• Technical assistance,
• Professional learning communities, and
• Statewide information dissemination.

State Strategies

The issue brief chronicles the approaches undertaken by leaders in Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Arkansas, South Carolina, Utah, Idaho and Georgia to support innovation and capacity-building for personalized, competency-based learning. Their paths to establishing effective funding strategies are offered as examples for other states that wish to follow their lead.

Vermont, for example, began with comprehensive state policies that lay the groundwork for student-centered learning statewide. The Vermont Agency of Education repurposed state funds to support professional development for personalized learning through a series of seminars, as well as through a statewide learning network. The state education agency also realigned its internal structures, creating four school support teams to help schools with various aspects of personalized, proficiency-based education. These activities have allowed the state agency to support the work of scaling student-centered learning without an appropriation dedicated for this purpose.

Utah, on the other hand, began its journey with a relatively small but dedicated state appropriation for a pilot program that sent school leaders from 14 schools on a learning tour of the more advanced models of personalized, competency-based school models in and out of the state. The state plans to issue guidance to other districts in the state on how to make the transition to competency-based education, in case they want to transition to competency-based education as well. The Utah State Board of Education will create a grant program that allows schools to seek funding to plan, and later implement, personalized, competency-based education.

To learn more about other states approached this work, as well as the Federal funding opportunities that states can access as part of an overall funding strategy, download the issue brief.

Action Steps

The path laid by the states highlighted in the issue brief are instructive for state policymakers as they consider how to develop sustainable funding plans for personalized, competency-based education. We recommend a number of initial steps to set the right conditions, including:

• Learning from other states about how they are funding innovation pilots, learning communities, professional development, technical assistance and other state initiatives to build capacity for transformation;
• Engaging districts, communities and state stakeholders to identify the areas where funding is needed to increase capacity;
• Identifying existing funding sources that could be repurposed for capacity building;
• Assessing the funding levels needed, the funding targets and the purposes and uses of those funds; and
• Developing a diverse, cross-disciplinary working group to study national and international approaches to school finance and funding formulas to align with student-centered learning models and ensure equitable funding for all students.

For more information, download the iNACOL issue brief, State Funding Strategies to Support Education Innovation, and access related issue briefs here:

• Rethinking State Accountability to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Learning in K-12 Education
• Redefining Student Success: Profile of a Graduate
• State Policy & K-12 Competency-Based Education
• Redesigning Systems of Assessments for Student-Centered Learning
• State Strategies to Develop Teacher Capacity for Personalized, Competency-Based Learning

Learn more:

• Foundation for Excellence in Education ‒ Competency-Based Education & School Finance
• Center for Innovation in Education ‒ Low-Stakes Completion-Based Funding: A New Approach to Financing Competency-Based Education
• Getting Smart ‒ 4 Ways We Can Fund Personalized Learning to Create More Equitable Schools
• iNACOL ‒ Current to Future State: Issues and Action Steps for State Policy to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Learning
• CompetencyWorks ‒ Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education
• CompetencyWorks ‒ Reaching the Tipping Point: Insights on Advancing Competency Education in New England
• Follow us on social media: @nacol, @SusanDPatrick, @mariaworthen, @DaleKFrost

The post How States Are Funding Innovation in Education and Supporting Steps for Policymakers appeared first on iNACOL.

A previous blog post introduced the idea of threshold concepts. The four threshold concepts in iNACOL’s CompetencyWorks report, Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education, can help us think differently about what is possible in an equitable future education system where all students succeed and how to address deep-seated systems design flaws across K-12 education.

The first threshold concept, certifying learning, can help us start a new focus on what it means to graduate from K-12 education and develop meaningful credentials.

How is it possible that our education system still graduates many students who lack basic reading and math skills when they hold a high school diploma? Not only do diplomas need to certify mastery of academic competencies but they also need to certify mastery of a comprehensive set of skills, knowledge and dispositions students need to succeed after high school. More meaningful qualifications can promote active, inquiry-based pedagogy with more holistic, learner-centered models to ensure students gain the knowledge and skills they need to thrive after high school.

The United States has made significant progress in improving high school graduation rates over the past decade. However, far less attention has been given to what the diploma signifies. Today, the only thing we can know for sure about a high school graduate in most U.S. school districts is that they have put in the required seat time in the requisite courses. When schools are passing students along and graduating them with major gaps in skills and knowledge, it does a great disservice. Sadly, we are not always being honest with our high school graduates when we tell them that their diploma means they are ready for the next step. Students who require remediation in college courses are less likely to persist and graduate. Those who directly enter the workforce and lack the basic communication, problem-solving, collaboration skills and habits of learning, may face unemployment.

There are alternatives to the American system of time-based credits and transcripts. Internationally, at least 47 countries (not including the United States) have developed a national qualifications framework, or a system of competency-based qualifications that form linkages between K-12, higher education and the needs of the future workforce. Qualifications systems provide flexible pathways for learning and offer accountability with evidence.

State policymakers might consider how the high school diploma could become a meaningful representation of students’ readiness for the future; it should reflect success in rigorous academics and signify that its holder has mastered the knowledge, skills, and habits of success needed in the new economy.

In the United States, this idea of addressing what a high school graduate should know and be able to do based on demonstrated mastery is starting to take hold in a few states, which are considering and adopting policies around the proficiency-based diploma. This is beginning to happen in state-level policy conversations and holds potential to support a competency-based approach to earning a high school qualification.

There are two issues states can tackle to begin certifying learning—ideas that state policymakers could be thinking about as part of a long game for transformation to student-centered learning. The next two blog posts in this series will dig into those two issues to tackle: meaningful qualifications and redefining student success.

View the first blog in this series, here: Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education.

Learn more:

• Report: Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education
• Report: Current to Future State: Issues and Action Steps for State Policy to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Learning
• Issue Brief: Redefining Student Success: Profile of a Graduate
• Issue Brief: Redesigning Systems of Assessments for Student-Centered Learning
• Issue Brief: Rethinking State Accountability to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Learning in K-12 Education
• Issue Brief: State Strategies to Develop Teacher Capacity for Personalized, Competency-Based Learning
• Issue Brief: State Policy & K-12 Competency-Based Education
• National Summit on K-12 Competency-Based Education
• Blog: Assessment Literacy to Support Competency-based Education Systems and other Deeper Learning Efforts
• Report: Meeting the Every Student Succeeds Act’s Promise: State Policy to Support Personalized Learning
• Follow us on social media: @nacol, @SusanDPatrick, @mariaworthen, @DaleKFrost, @ntruongedu

The post Certifying Learning: A Threshold Concept to Ensure Student Success and Career Pathways appeared first on iNACOL.

You can download a copy of the map here.

In 2018, there are 17 states identified as “Advanced,” shaded in red on the map. These are states that have comprehensive policy alignment and/or have established an active state role to build educator capacity in local school systems for competency education. In 2017, just 10 states were identified as advanced.

Thirteen states (categorized as “Developing” and shaded in green) now have open state policy flexibility for school districts to transition to competency education.

Eighteen states are categorized as “Emerging” and shaded in yellow. These states have limited state policy flexibility and usually require state authorization for school systems to shift to competency-based education.

Only two states show little or no state-level policy activity for competency education. In these states, significant policy barriers may exist, such as inflexible seat-time restrictions.

States Moving Up Into the “Advanced” Category

The following briefly highlights the seven states that have moved up into the “Advanced” category in the updated map:

Virginia

HB 895 of 2016 required the Virginia State Board of Education (Board) to collaborate with community stakeholders to create the Profile of a Virginia Graduate. The bill also requires that for the Class of 2022 and beyond, each graduate take an AP, Honors or IB course or complete an industry certification. In November 2017, the Board approved revised Standards of Accreditation that included graduation requirements for the Class of 2022. These regulations (8VAC20-131-51) went above and beyond the requirements of HB 895 and require all graduates to “acquire and demonstrate foundational skills in critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication and citizenship in accordance with the Profile of a Virginia Graduate.” Because the state is aligning its Standards of Accreditation and Graduation Requirements with its Profile of a Virginia Graduate, the state is pursuing comprehensive policy alignment and therefore moves the state into the “Advanced” category.

Rhode Island

The state’s Diploma Policy (200-RICR-20-10-2) requires that by 2021, in order to graduate, students must meet state and local course requirements and a performance-based diploma assessment requirement. High schools and middle schools are required to provide students with:

• individualized learning plans,
• multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency,
• multiple pathways, and
• personalized learning opportunities built into each school.

Rhode Island’s comprehensive state policies — its proficiency-based graduation requirements and policies requiring schools to provide students with personalized learning experiences — move the state into the “Advanced” category.  

Arkansas

The Arkansas Office of Innovation for Education receives an annual grant from the Arkansas Department of Education for capacity-building activities for new learning models, including competency education. The state’s consistent, active role in supporting personalized and competency-based learning models move the state into the “Advanced” category.

Illinois

Public Act 099-0674 (Section 20) created the Illinois Competency-Based Pilot Program, which now includes 15 school districts. The state’s active state role to build capacity at the local level for competency-based education moves it into the “Advanced” category.

South Carolina

The South Carolina Department of Education reallocated approximately $1 million to create the South Carolina Office of Personalized Learning to support capacity-building in more than 130 schools exploring or implementing personalized, competency-based learning. The state’s active role to build educator capacity for new learning models move it into the “Advanced” category.

Kentucky

The state’s approved ESSA plan includes the following: “The accountability system also includes an optional competency-based education and assessment pilot.” Shelby County and Trigg County public schools have been officially accepted into the pilot program. Teams from both districts began work in the spring of 2018, with the intent to launch the competency-based education and assessment pilot program during the 2018-2019 school year. The state department also published a personalized learning glossary in partnership with KnowledgeWorks. The state’s active role to build capacity for competency education moves it into the “Advanced” category.

Tennessee

The state’s ESSA plan says, “The department will continue to explore options to integrate competency-based instructional models by learning from local districts piloting these efforts, other districts and states leading the field in this work, and national partners that provide support into and through competency-based educational strategies.” According to the Tennessee Department of Education, it has allocated $200,000 ongoing from its operating budget for up to 20 planning grants at $10,000 each. Eleven school districts representing 17 schools have submitted letters of intent to participate. Three professional development sessions have been provided with two more days of professional development in June. Districts finalized and submitted implementation plans by the end of May. Four schools are planning to use the Summit Learning model while the other schools are focusing on other aspects of personalized, competency-based learning. All schools are either middle or high school and are beginning with either a grade or content area for the 2018-2019 school year. The active role the state has taken to build educator capacity for competency-based education moves Tennessee into the “Advanced” category.

States Moving Up Into the “Developing” Category

The following briefly highlights the three states that have moved up into the “Developing” category in the updated map:

Nevada

AB 110 of 2017 expands Nevada Revised Statute 389.171, which originally allowed school districts to award students high school credit only through successful performance on an examination, to now enable school districts to award high school credit to students who show mastery through:

• portfolios;
• student work;
• performance tasks; and
• other criteria to determine whether a student has achieved proficiency in a course.

AB 110 of 2017 also creates the Nevada Competency-Based Education Network. The application has been released but participating schools have yet to be announced.

Nevada has open flexibility for local school systems to transition to competency education, which moves the state into the “Developing” category.

Nebraska

Rule 10.004.04C3 enables school districts to “use performance-based curriculum or courses as an option” if the “written description is approved by the local board of education and is on file in the school…” and the “curriculum provides learning opportunities for students equivalent to or greater than those through the [traditional system] for determining instructional units.” In 2016, the state also completed a CBE study committee. The open flexibility for schools to move to competency-based systems moves Nebraska into the “Developing” category.

Indiana

Indiana enables local school boards to provide significant flexibility to schools approved as Innovation Network Schools (IC 20-25.7). Due to the structure of the law, the state cannot deny an Innovation Network School, and therefore, Indiana has open policy flexibility for competency-based systems. There is also a Charter & Innovation Network School Grant Program but this program is not focused on competency-based learning or new learning models. Indiana has open flexibility for local school systems to transition to competency education and that moves the state into the “Developing” category.

A Nationwide Trend Toward Supporting Competency Education

Since 2012, CompetencyWorks has released an annual snapshot map of the United States, categorizing states into levels at which their policy environments and state activities support competency-based education.

Six years ago, far fewer states had policies to support competency-based education. As can be seen from the map below from 2012, nearly half of all states were designated as having no policies to support competency-based education.

There is a significant trend of states creating policies to support competency-based learning across the country. Most of the work to create personalized, competency-based learning environments takes place within local school systems. However, when there is synchronization between policy and practice and when there is collaboration and partnership between policymakers and local school leaders, widespread transformation can take place. Students can access educational opportunities that will enable them to succeed in higher education, in the workplace and in life.

Learn more:

• iNACOL ‒ A National Landscape Scan of Personalized Learning in K-12 Education in the United States
• iNACOL ‒ Current to Future State: Issues and Action Steps for State Policy to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Learning
• CompetencyWorks ‒ Fit for Purpose: Taking the Long View on Systems Change and Policy to Support Competency Education
• iNACOL Issue Briefs
  • State Policy & K-12 Competency-Based Education
  • Redefining Student Success: Profile of a Graduate
  • Redesigning Systems of Assessments for Student-Centered Learning
  • Rethinking State Accountability to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Learning in K-12 Education
  • State Strategies to Develop Teacher Capacity for Personalized, Competency-Based Learning
    

Dale Frost is State Policy Director at iNACOL.

The post CompetencyWorks Releases Updated Competency Education State Policy Map appeared first on iNACOL.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) contains key programs that states are leveraging to build capacity for innovative, student-centered learning models; eliminating these programs would stifle those efforts.

Background

ESSA, passed in 2015, provides states with the opportunity to leverage federal funds to build capacity for personalized, competency-based learning. The March 2018 Congressional spending bill appropriated funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 and allows states and districts to access significantly more funds for innovation than the FY 2017 appropriation. However, the President’s 2019 Budget requests elimination of some key programs, including funds for building educator capacity under Title II, Part A, and funds for building personalized learning environments under Title IV.

These ESSA funding opportunities include:

Title I: Direct Student Services

• States may reserve up to three percent of their Title I, Part A grant under the new Direct Student Services provision in ESSA. States must distribute these funds to districts, prioritizing those with the highest percentage of schools identified for comprehensive and targeted support and improvement, for activities including:
  • Enrollment in courses not available at a student’s school,
  • Credit recovery and acceleration courses,
  • Activities that assist students in completing postsecondary credit,
  • Components of a personalized learning approach, and
  • Transportation for students attending comprehensive support and improvement schools who wish to switch schools.
• Congress has appropriated $15.8 billion to Title I, Part A for FY 2018.
• The President’s 2019 Budget would level fund Title I, Part A, while asking to raise the cap for Direct Student Services to five percent.

Title II: State Reservation for Building Capacity to Lead the Transition to Personalized Learning

• States may reserve up to three percent of their Title II, Part A funds to build a workforce of leaders with the skills to help schools transition to personalized learning environments.
• ESSA requires that states taking advantage of this reservation prioritize leaders in schools identified for comprehensive support and improvement.
• Congress has appropriated $2.1 billion to Title II, Part A for FY 2018.
• The President’s 2019 Budget would zero out funding for Title II, Part A

Title IV: Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (SSAEG)

• The purpose of the SSAEG program is to improve students’ “academic achievement by increasing the capacity of States, local educational agencies, schools and local communities to: (1) provide all students with access to a well-rounded education; (2) improve school conditions for student learning; and (3) improve the use of technology in order to improve the academic achievement and digital literacy for all students.”
• The U.S. Department of Education will distribute the funds to states by formula.
• A state may set aside up to five percent of its state grant for statewide activities and support; and distribute the remaining 95 percent to districts, by formula.
• District applications to states for funding under SSAEG must be based on an assessment of local needs and capacity, including indicators regarding equitable access to a well-rounded education, school health and safety measures, and student access to — and teacher capacity to implement — personalized learning environments.
• District funds may be used for the following purposes:
  • School health and safety (at least 20 percent of funds statewide),
  • School counseling,
  • Expanding access to a well-rounded education (at least 20 percent of funds statewide), and
  • Educational technology, which may include professional development for personalized learning, as well as for Open Educational Resources and data privacy professional development.
• Congress has appropriated $1.1 billion for SSAEG in FY 2018.
• The President’s 2019 Budget would eliminate Title IV funding for the SSAEG.

Take Action:

• Your representatives need to hear from you: Should Congress maintain funding for Title II and Title IV of ESSA in the 2019 Education Spending Bill?
• Find Your Representative

Learn More:

• EdWeek: House Spending Bill Would Give Small Boost to Education, Reject Cuts By DeVos

Maria Worthen is Vice President for Federal and State Policy at iNACOL.

The post Funding for Advancing Education Innovation and Equity at Stake in House Subcommittee Vote appeared first on iNACOL.