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31 May 2017
Brief

Competency-Based Education: Staying Shallow or Going Deep?

A Deeper, More Personal Look at What It Means to Be Competent

Wendy Surr, AIR
Sam Redding, Center on Innovations in Learning

Image of Going Deep report coverIn order to be successful in the 21st century, students will need to master an expanded set of competencies that extends beyond discrete academic standards. Competency-based education (CBE) is an educational approach that focuses on mastery of these competencies—rather than seat time—as a measure of student learning.

This approach is being adopted by a growing number of educators focused on ensuring students graduate college and career ready. States engaged in CBE initiatives need to ensure that their efforts do not inadvertently promote “shallow” learning by equating “competency” only with the mastery of academic content. True competence is deeper, broader and more personal. It includes academics, but it also includes a wide range of other cognitive, intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, and dispositions that higher education institutions and employers value and demand.

This brief explores how states and districts can define learner competencies that reflect the full range of knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for students to achieve college and career readiness.

PDF icon Competency-Based Education: Staying Shallow or Going Deep? (PDF)

Related Centers

Center

College and Career Readiness and Success Center

The College & Career Readiness & Success Center (CCRS Center) provides technical assistance support to states focused on ensuring all students graduate high school ready for college and career success. The mission of the Center is to build the capacity of states to effectively implement college and career ready initiatives such as career and technical education, work-based learning, career pathways, employability skills, and competency-based education.

Related Work

12 Oct 2016
Spotlight

Postsecondary Competency-Based Education

Postsecondary competency-based education (CBE) is receiving considerable attention from advocates, colleges, and policymakers as a way to help more students complete high-quality postsecondary credentials in less time and at a lower cost—but we're just beginning to build rigorous evidence to understand whether CBE programs are fulfilling those value propositions.
Topic: 
Education, Postsecondary Education
17 Jul 2019
Spotlight

deeper-learning-students.jpg

Students working together

Spotlight on Deeper Learning

What do today’s students really need to learn in order to succeed, not only in the classroom but also later on in college, careers, and as engaged citizens? What role can deeper learning—“a set of competencies students must master in order to develop a keen understanding of academic content and apply their knowledge to problems in the classroom and on the job”—play?
Topic: 
Education, Social and Emotional Learning

Further Reading

  • Partners in Crafting Competency-Based Pathways to College and Career Readiness
  • ESSA │College and Career Readiness
  • State Approaches to Competency-Based Education to Support College and Career Readiness for All Students
  • Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education: The Relationship Between Competency-Based Education Practices and Students’ Learning Skills, Behaviors, and Dispositions
  • Postsecondary Competency-Based Education
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Education
College and Career Readiness
Social and Emotional Learning

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