In April 2013, "NEJHE" launched its New Directions for Higher Education series to examine emerging issues, trends and ideas that have an impact on higher education policies, programs and practices. In this installment, DiSalvio interviews Pamela Tate, president and CEO of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL). Topics…

The research-project Co[superscript 2]CA investigates the influence of teacher-trainings on in-service teachers' expertise. Within a teacher-training-study 27 in-service teachers have been trained in selected ideas about teaching, having an exemplary focus on central aspects of formative assessment in competency-oriented mathematics. At the end of…

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…

This study aimed at getting an insight on the implementation of Competence Based Education in Tanzania (CBE) in Tanzania. A study was conducted in Changchun, Jilin in China due to limited time the researcher had. The study was guided by the following research objective; specifically this study did the following; to assess the knowledge that rural…

In Spain, the organisation of doctoral studies has been substantially modified to come into line with the changes introduced by the agenda of the Bologna process. These changes have been specified in a number of statements by European Ministers of Education, and have required alterations to Spanish doctoral regulations. The aim of these changes…

This paper explores how an Alaskan school district shifted from a traditional K-12 education system to a personalized, performance-based system, embedded in the culture of the community, which led to increased student achievement. Chugach School District (CSD) first implemented competency education over twenty years ago, paving the way in…

In 2015, states continued to invest heavily in career and technical education (CTE), as leaders and policymakers sought to strengthen their state economies, fill the talent pipeline with well-prepared workers in key industries, and provide meaningful educational and career opportunities for citizens at every learner level. More than 125…

Since the publication of the "College Scorecard" by The U.S. Department of Education in 2015, comparisons between college attendance costs and institutional outcomes (i.e., graduation rates, post-graduation earnings) have come into sharp focus. This increased scrutiny requires institutions of higher learning to be more transparent about…

This paper provides a vision and set of policy recommendations to help federal, state, and local leaders develop the workforce necessary to support teaching and learning in a competency-based K-12 education system. Part One, Pre-service and Credentialing for K-12 Competency-Based Learning Environments, provides policymakers with a framework and…

Lindsay Unified School District (California) exemplifies the promise of competency education (or performance-based education, as it is called locally). Since beginning its transition to the model in 2009, discipline problems have sharply dropped, the school climate has dramatically improved (as measured by the California Healthy Kids Survey), and…

Competency-based education (CBE) refers to online and hybrid courses and programs that offer credit or degrees based on evidence of student learning, or competencies, rather than on the amount of time spent in a course. Students work at their own pace, receive personalized academic support, and demonstrate mastery as they progress through their…

This is an article about secondary schools in England, and what type of school is fair and efficient for a national education system. It discusses what "fair" could mean in this context, summarises some key policy revisions since 1944 in this light, and reminds readers of the damage caused by unfairness within education. Most notably it…

Early years education has received considerable attention in recent years, particularly as a result of longitudinal studies that demonstrate the importance of the first few years in a child's development and educational experience. In 2004, a new approach to early years education, the Foundation Phase, was introduced in Wales. This is a major…

This paper proposes a model for youth leadership education based on adolescent development and leadership research in an effort to provide practitioners with a practical blueprint to aid their creation and implementation of high school leadership programs. By focusing on student leader development areas which school level educators can affect,…

Graduate attributes (GAs) have become a necessary framework of reference for the 21st century competency-based model of higher education. However, the issue of evaluating and assessing GAs still remains unchartered territory. In this article, we present a criteria-based method of assessment that allows for an institution-wide comparison of the…