The goal of this toolkit is to shed light on the importance of authorizing nontraditional charter schools and how the challenges of authorizing nontraditional schools manifest in practice, as well as to provide action steps for authorizers and school leaders who are able and eager to lead the field on these complex issues. The toolkit contains the…

"Competency-Based Education" introduces educators to a new model for anytime, anywhere schooling and provides tools and curriculum resources for redesigning the traditional structures of K-12 schools. Based on pioneering work across multiple states, the book shows how educators can design central elements of competency-based…

This toolkit informs school leaders about the authorizing challenges they may confront, illustrates opportunities and options for school leaders to navigate the authorizing process, and shares useful frameworks for considering the benefits and trade-offs of these options. The toolkit contains the following sections: (1) Strategies &…

With the cost of college soaring and the national six-year completion rate below 60 percent, the federal government's support for higher education faces heightened scrutiny. What kind of regulation and accountability should Congress impose on Washington's hefty funding of Pell grants and subsidized loans? As legislators turn their attention to…

In the upper northeast corner of the United States, the commitment to competency education has grown so strong that entire states are embracing it through high-leverage comprehensive policies. Of the six New England states -- Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont -- four have established comprehensive state…

The recent passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) is an historic opportunity for education leaders and funders to think broadly about innovation in terms of goals and accountability. This case examines two examples of states where responsible innovation regarding goals and accountability is long underway, with the support of…

This paper describes a qualitative case study that explores how twenty-three field advisors, representing three human service professions including education, nursing, and social work, experience the process of assessment with students who are struggling to meet minimum competencies in field placements. Five themes emerged from the analysis of…

In the past decade, American professional psychology has taken significant steps toward a unified statement of the competencies that define the practice of psychology, regardless of specialty. The purpose of this article is to explain the current competency initiative in professional psychology and examine its implications and potential impact on…

This report is designed to help state and local policymakers identify the policy changes needed to expand access to quality personalized learning in their states and communities, and to give them the tools to make those changes. Each of the 15 policy ideas, or "plays," in this playbook provides background context on the challenges it is…

A review of the development and present status of individualized instruction. (MLF)

State legislation is holding school systems progressively more accountable. Easy evaluation for instructional systems will be needed for accountability and it is suggested that competency-based instructional systems can lead to such an evaluation. (DS)

The counselor is in a particularly vulnerable position with respect to systems of educational assessment. Article presents guidelines developed by an Arizona task force for establishing objectives for counselors in that state and makes suggestions for development of performance standards. (Author/HMV)

This article proposes that an a priori approach for developing counselor competencies can be improved by using sixteen steps based on principles from business and industrial management. The result is a proper foundation for the establishment of valid school counselor competencies on which the competency-based preparation program can be built.…

Educators are studying Northeast Missouri State University's "value-added" assessment programs, designed to measure how students are progressing in gaining specific intellectual skills. Its main feature is a series of tests that all students must take on entering the university and at the end of the sophomore year. (MLW)

This chapter of "The Best of the Best of ERIC," Volume 2, contains 18 summaries of documents and journals on competency-based education, all of which are indexed in either "Resources in Education" or "Current Index to Journals in Education." The materials included deal with various aspects of the topic, such as…