In recent years, universities have been developing more robust competency-based classes for students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Competency-based education (CBE) is based on outcomes and is student-centred, creating a better learning experience. This paper provides context for competency-based education over a…

The diversity of skills, talents, and interests of students that we serve in our schools requires a remarkable range of teachers' skills, time, and resources. This brief article focuses on differentiation and the ways that teachers can adapt and differentiate the regular curriculum to meet the academic needs of all of their students. Challenges…

Technology, when used appropriately, can empower learning, engage and motivate students, and help make learning interactive. Students can benefit from educational technology because it can personalize instruction and adapt to their strengths and weaknesses. Today's digital tools and resources support and enhance learning at home and in the…

This guide is the Spanish version of the "Parent and Family Digital Learning Guide". Technology, when used appropriately, can empower learning, engage and motivate students, and help make learning interactive. Students can benefit from educational technology because it can personalize instruction and adapt to their strengths and…

Students, teachers, and school leaders are seeking flexibility and supports to enable powerful, personalized learning experiences both inside and outside of the traditional classroom. In personalized learning, instruction is tailored to each student's strengths, needs, and interests--including enabling student voice and choice in what, how, when,…

For the past 35 years, the prevailing narrative about America's public education system is that it is "broken." Reform efforts have failed to find a fix because they fundamentally misunderstand this reality: the system is not broken. It is doing exactly what it was designed to do--educate the masses in a standardized fashion that…

There are many calls for personalized learning (instruction) (in Germany 'Individuelle Förderung'), especially for persons with special educational needs in the transition to vocational training or retraining. Teachers can find a variety of concepts and instruments to construct personalized learning. The challenge is to combine and to connect…

Personal competencies--cognitive, metacognitive, motivational, and social/emotional--are applied by students in learning (mastery of knowledge and skills). These competencies are both acquired through learning and applied in the learning process. Personalized learning--a promising approach to education made practical by advances in…

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is exploring competency-based education as a way to better prepare students for success in college and their careers. Some individual schools and districts are moving ahead with this innovative approach where achievement is the constant and time is the variable. Not all students learn at the same rate, or in the same…

The basic concept of personalized learning (PL) -- instruction that is focused on meeting students' individual learning needs while incorporating their interests and preferences -- has been a longstanding practice in U.S. K-12 education. Options for personalization have increased as personal computing devices have become increasingly affordable…

Personalized learning models can give each student differentiated learning experiences based on their needs, interests, and strengths, including students with disabilities. Personalized learning can pinpoint specific gaps in student learning, identify where a student is on his or her learning pathway, and provide the appropriate interventions to…

State by state, our country is revamping our education system to ensure that each and every one of our young people is college and career ready. To ensure high-quality competency education, in 2011 one hundred innovators created a working definition to guide the field. This paper delves into the fourth element of the definition: "Students…

The past five decades have produced a tremendous archive of important and interesting strategies, frameworks and practices aimed at improvement in public education. Yet despite the vast set of knowledge generated by this work, gains have not been significant enough nor sustained. Young people still arrive at postsecondary institutions ill-prepared…

Competency-based educational programs are here to stay. Here the author describes the program underway in his school system. (Editor/RK)

A new idea is catching on fast: instead of giving all students the same classroom time and grading A to F, give each the time and the teaching technique he or she needs to master the subject. (LBH)