Competency-Based Learning
Learn more about an instructional model where students work at their own pace to meet specific learning goals or competencies
What Is Standards-Based Grading, and How Does It Work?
Schools can retool to make instruction more personalized and student-centered. But grading is a common sticking point.
Assessment
Video
K-12 Performance Assessment Terms Explained
Interest is growing in assessing students’ learning by having them show what they can do with what they know. But educators often disagree about what terms like performance assessment and project-based learning really mean in the classroom. In an effort to clear up some of the confusion, Education Week writers developed definitions for six performance-assessment related terms, including proficiency-based learning, project-based learning, standards-based grading, and portfolios. See the results in this animated glossary.
Assessment
Opinion
Where Can Tech Outdo a Teacher?
In tomorrow's classrooms, technology won't replace teachers—it will make them better. Here's how.
Assessment
Opinion
Beyond Classroom Management
Want a class that functions smoothly and productively? Forget the carrots and sticks; make sure each student has appropriately challenging work instead.
Student Achievement
Opinion
Mastering Process in Competency-Based Learning
One possible drawback to competency-based learning is an overemphasis on the end product. What is it we really want students to master?
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
Scaling Competency-Based Education: Equity-Focused Strategies for Policy and Practice
An in-depth look at current barriers to competency-based education, the equity imperative behind CBE, and five key points to move the field toward CBE for all.
Education
Opinion
The Case for Competency as a New Equity Agenda
By Tom Vander Ark and Mary Ryerse
We believe that every student deserves a great high school education - one that engages, challenges and inspires them, equips them to succeed in a rapidly changing world, and prepares them to thrive in the jobs of the future. We believe that all students should progress based on mastery and be provided the supports they need to succeed.
We believe that every student deserves a great high school education - one that engages, challenges and inspires them, equips them to succeed in a rapidly changing world, and prepares them to thrive in the jobs of the future. We believe that all students should progress based on mastery and be provided the supports they need to succeed.
Student Achievement
Opinion
Making Math Meaningful: A Just-in-Time, Problem-Based Approach
Mathematics as a discipline was developed to solve real problems. It should be the problems that drive what our students learn, not vice versa.
Assessment
Opinion
Not Your Grandfather's Vo-tech
A new generation of Career Technical Education (CTE) schools like Butler Tech Bioscience Center in Ohio provide all students with the kind of learning they need in today's world.
Professional Development
Opinion
A Decade On: Lindsay Unified's Personalized Learning Journey
Over a decade ago, Lindsay Unified School District in California set out on a path to transform learning by adopting a performance-based system. How has the district sustained this kind of change over time?
Assessment
Opinion
Creating Space
If we want good things to happen in K-12 education, we have to create space for them. And creating space isn't easy.
Personalized Learning
Opinion
Problem-Based Learning: Preparing Students for the Race of Their Lives
What's the value of instruction that offers theory without valuable, hands-on practical experience?
Assessment
Opinion
Achieving Authentic Learning Through a Major Classroom Culture Shift
One D.C. teacher designed and implemented a tech-driven blended learning model for his class--one that's self-paced and constructs a mastery-based approach to learning. lt has produced a highly personalized learning experience for his students, among other promising results.
Assessment
Opinion
The Teacher's Role in Personalized Learning: Making Math Relevant
At New Classrooms, Carolyn Harper supports teachers in their journey to connect math to real life for their students. In Teach to One: Math, performance-based tasks help students understand how math exists in their world.
Student Achievement
Opinion
Taking a Risk with Authentic Learning at Boston International Newcomers Academy
Boston International Newcomers Academy (BINcA), a high school that embraces recent immigrant English language learners and their families, is trailblazing new learning environments in Boston Public Schools (BPS).