Guest Commentary: Chris Sturgis and Susan Patrick--When Failure is not an Option

Explorations into next generation learning are sweeping across the country. Technological advancements are opening up new educational opportunities that emphasize personalized, student-centered, performance-based, anytime,anywhere educational opportunities.
In other words, it is time to turn away from the Carnegie unit and embrace competency-based pathways.
Competency-based policy is best described as flexibility in awarding credit or defined as an alternative to the Carnegie unit. Yet, this does not capture the depth of the transformation of our education system from a seat-time based system (Carnegie) to a learning-based system (competency pathway).
Competency-based learning follow these simple principles:

• Students advance upon mastery.
• Explicit and measurable learning objectives empower students.
• Assessment is a meaningful and positive learning experience for students.

States leading the development of policies to allow competency-based pathways include New Hampshire, Oregon, Ohio, and Alabama, to name a few. Evidence from the early innovators—including Diploma Plus, Chugach Alaska School District, Florida Virtual School, Re-inventing Schools Coalition (RISC), and Equity and Achievement for Standards-based Learning Institute (EASL)—are encouraging.
Yet, there is a dearth of formal documentation, research, or evaluation on competency based approaches.Elimination of seat-time regulations is too simplistic of a solution.
Creating a culture of continuous improvement is one of the keys to successfully implementing a competency-based educational environment.
Click here for the executive summary of When Failure is not an Option: Designing Competency-Based Pathways for Next Generation Learning.
Click here for the complete report.