Beyond the Tipping Point: Insights in Advancing Competency Education in New England

Reaching the Tipping Point: Insights on Advancing Competency Education in New England was released October 2016.Competency education is expanding across the country as a means to ensure all students are mastering the skills and knowledge to be successful in college, career and civic life. This paper explores the core concepts of competency education, provides insights in policy and practice across five New England states, and analyzes the impact of competency education on quality, equity, scaling and sustainability. This report draws lessons learned and insights from educators and policymakers in New England and is intended for district leadership and policymakers seeking to introduce competency-based education within their states.

 

Link to archived webinar.

 

Organizations Playing Important Roles in New England

• Great Schools Partnership and  Proficiency Simplified
• New England Secondary Schools Consortium  and the Collegiate Endorsement
• Regional Education Lab Northeast & Islands
• Center for Assessment
• Center for Collaborative Education
• 2 Revolutions
• Nellie Mae Education Foundation
• Barr Foundation
  

 

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Resources by State

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Connecticut

• Connecticut Association of Public Schools Superintendent
• NextEd: Transforming Connecticut’s Education System (2011) published by CAPSS
  
• A Look to the Future: Personalized Learning in Connecticut (2015) published by CAPSS and Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE) and the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS)
• NextEd: Next Steps (2016)
• Connecticut’s Act for Unleashing Innovation in Connecticut Schools (2013)
• CT Department of Education's Mastery-Based Learning Guidelines for Implementation
• Articles on CompetencyWorks

• Overview: Superintendents Leading the Way in Connecticut

• New Haven Public Schools: Creating Meaningful Instruction through Mastery-Based Learning in New Haven, CT

• New Haven Academy: New Haven Academy: Pedagogy Comes First

• Windsor Locks Public Schools: Windsor Locks: Starting with Pedagogy

• Naugatuck Public Schools: Naugatuck Public Schools: Making Meaning for Teachers with Mastery-Based Learning

 

Maine

• Maine Cohort for Customized Learning
• Maine Learning Results,
• Strategic plan Education Evolving.
• LD1422, An Act To Prepare Maine People for the Future Economy ( 2012)
•  Understanding Maine’s Guiding Principle
• Center for Best Practices houses videos to allow viewers to hear directly from educators and students about proficiency-based learning, case studies. 
• The Maine legislature asked the Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) to investigate the implementation of proficiency-based learning. To date, the following studies have been completed:

 

•  Proficiency-based High School Diploma System in Maine: Local Implementation of State Standards-based Policy, Phase IV Policy Report
•  Implementation of a Proficiency-Based Diploma System: Early Experiences in Maine
•  Implementation of a Proficiency-Based Diploma System in Maine: Phase II - District Level Analysis
•  Preliminary Implementation of Maine's Proficiency-Based Diploma Program
• Articles on CompetencyWorks
•  Maine’s proficiency-based diploma policy
• Biddeford School District:  Biddeford School District: Never Unpack Alone
• Casco Bay High School
• Casco Bay High School: Tips and Takeaways
• Casco Bay High School: Learning as Exploration
• Casco Bay High School: The What and HOW of Learning
• Casco Bay High School: We Will Shape our School by our Learning
• Noble High School: Noble High School: Creating Timely, Differentiated Supports
• Deer Isle-Stonington High School
• Deer Isle-Stonington High School: Turning Around the Culture
• Deer Island-Stonington High School: Breathing Life into the Standards
• Deer Isle-Stonington High School: Takeaways and Burning Questions
• RSU2 (From 2016 and 2014) 
  
• RSU2: Entering a New Stage in Building a High Quality Proficiency-Based District
• RSU2: Continuous Improvement at Richmond Middle and High School
• RSU2: Moving Beyond Grade-Driven Learning
• RSU2: Moving Beyond the Test Score with Hope
• Quick Update from RSU2 Maine (2014)
• Virgel Hammonds’ Six Insights into Leadership (2014)

 

• Wells High School:  Wells High School: The Timeline to Transformation
• University of Maine at Presque Isle
• University of Maine at Presque Isle: Moving at the Speed of Light
• UMPI: Faculty Perspective
• University of Maine at Presque Isle: Eliminating Remediation
• Northern Maine Education Collaborative: Northern Maine Education Collaborative: High Aspirations

 

Massachusetts

• Center for Collaborative Education
• Boston Day and Evening Academy REAL Institute

• Articles on CompetencyWorks

• Melrose Public Schools: Can Melrose Go Deeper with Competency-Based Education?

• Boston Day and Evening Academy  
  

• Reading the Pulse of Students at Boston Day and Evening Academy
• Boston Day and Evening Academy: Where Competency Education is Good Teaching Practice
• Boston Day and Evening Academy: A Learning Organization

 

New Hampshire

• New Hampshire’s Story of Transformation
• State Model Competencies
• Minimum Standards for School Approval
• Performance Assessment of Competency Education
• Moving from Good to Great in New Hampshire: Performance Assessment of Competency Education (PACE)
• Extended learning opportunities
• Virtual Learning Academy Charter School
• Papers
  
• From policy to practice: How competency-based education is evolving in New Hampshire by Julia Freeland Fisher, Christensen Institute
• Blending toward competency: A closer look at blended learning in New Hampshire by Julia Freeland Fisher, Christensen Institute
• Articles on CompetencyWorks

• Parker-Varney Elementary:Parker-Varney Elementary: Keepers of the Bar

• Pittsfield School District

• Redesign at Pittsfield School District

• Hand in Hand: Pittsfield Integrates Personalized Learning and Competency Education

•  Pittsfield Rethinks Adult Roles

• Implementation Insights from Pittsfield School District

• Sanborn Regional School District

•  Sanborn Regional School District Flips District Reform

•  Addressing Root Causes at Memorial Elementary School

• Raising the Bar at Sanborn Regional High School

• Making Community Connections Charter School  (2014)

•  Igniting Learning at the Making Community Connections Charter School

• Gateways, Not Grades

 

 

Rhode Island

• Diploma System 2003   
• 2020 Vision for Education: Rhode Island’s Strategic Plan for PK-12 & Adult Education 2015-2020.
•  Scaling Up PBG Network
• Proposed new regulations (as of August 2016)
• Higherlander Institute (focuses on personalized learning and blended learning)
• Articles on CompetencyWorks
• Cumberland High School: Starting with Proficiency-Based Grading

 

 

Vermont

• Education Quality Standards 
• Act 77 to expand flexible pathways
• Articles on CompetencyWorks
• Montpelier Public Schools:A Conversation with the Two Mikes from Montpelier

 

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Recommended Reading Lists

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Recommended Reading on Competency Education

• Delivering on the Promise: The Education Revolution
• The Past and the Promise: Today's Competency Education Movement, Jobs for the Future
• Proficiency-Based Learning Simplified, Great Schools Partnership
• What is Competency Education?, iNACOL
• Mean What You Say: Defining and Integrating Personalized, Blended and Competency Education, iNACOL
• ·       The Shift from Cohorts to Competency, Digital Learning Now
•  Progress and Proficiency: Redesigning Grading for Competency Education, CompetencyWorks
• The Learning Edge: Supporting Student Success in a Competency-Based Learning Environment, CompetencyWorks
• Inside Mastery-Based High Schools: Profiles and Conversations, Springpoint

 

Recommended Reading on Implementation

 

• Implementing Competency Education in K-12 Systems: Insights from Local Leaders, CompetencyWorks
• Looking Under The Hood Of Competency-Based Education: The Relationship Between Competency-Based Education Practices and Students’ Learning Skills, Behaviors, and Dispositions, AIR and Nellie Mae Foundation
• From Policy to Practice: How Competency-Based Education is Evolving in New Hampshire, Clayton Christensen Institute
• Proficiency-based High School Diploma System in Maine: Local Implementation of State Standards-based Policy, Phase IV Policy Report, Maine Education Policy Research Institute

 

Recommended Reading on State Policy

 

• Competency-Based Learning: Definitions, Policies, and Implementation, Regional Education Lab Northeast & Islands
• Promising State Policies for Personalized Learning, iNACOL
• Communication Tool Kit, Foundation for Excellent Education
• Competency-Based Pathways Resources, Achieve
• Expanding Student Success: A Primer on Competency-Based Education from Kindergarten through Higher Education, National Governors Association

 

Recommended Reading on System-Building and ESSA   

 

• Pathways to New Accountability Through the Every Student Succeeds Act, Learning Policy Institute
• Promising State Policies for Personalized Learning, iNACOL
• New Opportunities to Advance Personalized Learning in the Every Student Succeeds Act, KnowledgeWorks 
• Recommendations for Advancing Personalized Learning Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), KnowledgeWorks 
• Accountability for College and Career Readiness Developing a New Paradigm, SCOPE

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