This article presents a new model of education that works with employers to help their employees gain the skills and credentials needed for promotions and career mobility. Southern New Hampshire University's College for America, a competency-based education model for working adults, increases their access to, and the convenience of higher…

Changes in certification requirements and examinee characteristics are likely to influence the validity of the evidence associated with interpretations made based on test data. We examined whether changes in Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) certification requirements over time were associated with changes in internal…

College students will face a workplace transformed even from the one that existed five years ago. Public and private organizations presently require employees to possess highly developed core competencies. This shift in expectations, exacerbated by high unemployment among recent college graduates, has made accountability a hot issue for higher…

Proficiency-Based Education is a contemporary instructional model that grew out of the competency-based education movement of the 1980's and 90's. It is based on the premise that TIME is flexible and that students work at their own pace until they have mastered necessary content and skills. As students demonstrate proficiency, then move on to more…

The effectiveness of a multi-component computer based training package that consisted of competency based instructions, video modeling, and two forms of feedback was evaluated in terms of treatment integrity of two procedures across four staff. Treatment integrity in completing critical steps of discrete-trial and backward chaining procedures were…

School psychologists often have the opportunity to work with students and families from varied backgrounds and cultures. While this can be an exciting and enriching part of the job, it can also be daunting for some practitioners, particularly those who are inadequately prepared. A number of strategies have been implemented in school psychology…

The objective of teacher-training at university for political science is the development of professional competencies that enable teachers-in-training to act proficiently in all aspects of civic education. Although there are some studies that focus on civic education for teachers' professional competencies, most of them relate to general…

Proficiency-based learning systems are becoming more common across the United States, yet few pre-service mathematics teachers have experienced this type of system in the classroom themselves. Teacher education courses are one opportunity for pre-service teachers to experience proficiency-based learning; however, we know little about the impact…

Faculty in agricultural teacher education programs are responsible for preparing future teachers to lead effective school-based agricultural education programs. However, agriculture teachers are having difficulty implementing supervised agricultural experience (SAE), even though they value it conceptually as a program component. In an effort to…

Most history teachers will, at some point, recognise the tension between teaching an engaging history course while at the same time meeting the requirements of an exam specification. Mark Fowle and Ben Egelnick reflect here on how they approached teaching a formal requirement of an exam specification. Rather than see "controlled…

The pervasiveness of academic ability grouping, or streaming, as a means of organising students into instructional groups in New Zealand schools remains a dominant discourse, despite international and New Zealand research that casts doubt on the benefits of this practice. This article documents teachers' views on the effects of an innovative form…

In the twenty-first century, learning takes place almost everywhere, at all times, on all kinds of paths and at all kinds of paces. With the click of a mouse or the touch of a screen, young people and adults can access a wealth of information, analyze it, and produce new knowledge at any time. These learning opportunities break wide open the…

This paper provides a scan of the literature to expand the knowledge base for the field of online, blended, and competency-based education. Authors seek to integrate the core ideas of personalized learning, blended learning, competency education, and standards. The goal of the paper is to explain the nuances of key terms used across the field of…

For a century, most students have advanced from grade to grade based on the number of days they spend in class, but in New Hampshire, schools have moved away from "seat time" and toward "competency-based learning," which advances students when they have mastered course content. This report profiles how two high schools in New…

The current debates on the purpose and role of education are linked to social imaginaries which should be convening and achievable. At the core of these imaginaries is the construction of a more just society. Increasingly, education is viewed as a necessary condition for such visions to be achievable. However, this situation is concomitant with…