See Recommended Reading on Higher Education as well

Getting Started: Recommended Reading from the Field for Laying the GroundWork

The following have been recommended by district and school leaders as reading that helped them understand the reasons why it was important to shift to personalized, competency education and the capacities they would need to build.  

• Inevitable: Mass Customized Learning: Learning in the Age of Empowerment by Charles Schwahn and Beatrice McGarvey (2012)
• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck (2007)
• The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner (2010)
• Total Leaders by Chuck Schwahn and William Spady (1998)
• A Comprehensive Guide to Designing Standards-based Districts, Schools, and Classrooms by Robert Marzano & John Kendall (1996)
• Delivering on the Promise by DeLorenzo, R., W. Battino, R. Schreiber, and B. Carrio. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press (2009)
• Building A New Structure for School Leadership by Richard F. Elmore (2000)
• Classroom Instruction that Works by Robert Marzano (2001)
• Integrating Differentiated Instruction & Understanding Design by Carol Ann Tomlinson, Jay McTighe (2006)
• Accountability for College and Career Readiness:Developing a New Paradigm by Linda Darling-Hammond
  Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education & Gene Wilhoit and Linda Pittenger National Center for Innovation in Education
   

CompetencyWorks Issue Briefs

• Reaching the Tipping Point: Insights on Advancing Competency Education in New England (2016)
• Chugach School District: A Personalized, Performance-Based System (2016)
• Implementing Competency Education in K-12 Systems: Insights from Local Leaders (2015)
• Maximizing Competency Education and Blended Learning: Insights from Experts (2015)
• An International Study in Competency Education: Postcards from Abroad (2014)
• A K-12 Federal Policy Framework for Competency Education: Building Capacity for Systems Change (2014) Find Resources Here 
  
• Progress and Proficiency: Redesigning Grading for Competency Education (2014) Find Resources Here 
  
• Necessary for Success: Building Mastery of World-Class Skills: A Guide for State Policymakers (2013) Find Resources Here
  
• Re-Engineering Information Technology Design Considerations for Competency Education (2013) Find Resources Here
  
• The Learning Edge: Supporting Student Success in a Competency-Based Learning Environment (2012)   Find Resources Here
  
• The Art and Science of Designing Competencies (2012) Find Resources Here
  
• Cracking the Code: Synchronizing Policy and Practice for Performance-Based Learning (2011) Find Resources Here
  

• It’s Not a Matter of Time: Highlights from the 2011 Competency-Based Summit (2011)

• Clearing the Path: Creating Innovation Space for Serving Over-Age, Under-Credited Students in Competency-Based Pathways (January 2011)
• Success is the Only Option: Designing Competency Based Pathways for Next Generation Learning (November 2010)

 Other Issue Briefs, Books, Videos, Reports and Case Studies

2016

• About Competency Education
• The Lindsay Story (video by Lindsay Unified)
• Competency Education and Personalized Learning (video by KnowledgeWorks)
• Chugach School District: A Personalized, Performance-Based System (CompetencyWorks)
• How To Resources
• Designing New School Models, A Practical Guide (Springpoint Schools)
• Tapping the Power of Personalized Learning by James Rickabaugh
• Over-Tested and Under-Prepared: Using Competency Based Learning to Transform Our Schools by Robert Sornson
• Visioning Toolkit for Better Assessments (KnowledgeWorks)
• State and Federal Policy
• Promising State Policies for Personalized Learning by iNACOL
• Pathways to New Accountability Through the Every Student Succeeds Act by the Learning Policy Institute
• Innovation Zones: Creating Policy Flexibility for Personalized Learning ( iNACOL)
• Recommendations for Advancing Personalized Learning Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) ( KnowledgeWorks)
• Expanding the Definition of Student Success Under ESSA: Opportunities to Advance Social-Emotional Mindsets, Skills, and Habits for Today’s Students (Transforming Education)
• Meeting The Every Student Succeeds Act’s Promise: State Policy to Support Personalized Learning (iNACOL)
• Competency-Based Policies and Pathways: Lessons from Colorado and Illinois (Achieve)
• Policy, Pilots and the Path to Competency-Based Education: A Tale of Three States (Foundation for Excellence in Education)
• Creating Innovation Zones to Advance the Promise of Competency-Based Pathways (Achieve)
• Research and Evaluation
• Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education: The Relationship Between Competency-Based Education Practices and Students’ Learning Skills, Behaviors, and Dispositions (AIR)
• Results From a Two-Year Study of the Effects of Extended Learning Opportunities on Student Outcomes in New Hampshire (Nellie Mae Education Foundation)
• Reaching the Tipping Point: Insights on Advancing Competency Education in New England (CompetencyWorks)
• Other Related Topics
• Information Management
• Student-Centered Learning: Functional Requirements for Integrated Systems to Optimize Learning ( iNACOL)
• Leadership
• Leadership for Learning (Center for Innovation in Education)
• Leading Change: The Emerging Human Capital Landscape in Personalized Learning Initiatives (District Reform Support Network)

• Afterschool and Expanded Learning
• The Intersection of Afterschool and Competency-Based Learning: Emerging Trends, Policy Considerations, and Questions for the Future ( AYPF )

2015

About Competency Education

How To Resources

State and Federal Policy

Research and Evaluation

Other Related Topics

• Inside Mastery Based High Schools: Profiles and Conversations by Springpoint 
• Video collection on Mastery-Based Learning (NYC Department of Education Mastery Collaborative)
  
• Building Consensus and Momentum: A Policy and Political Landscape for K-12 Competency Education by KnowledgeWorks
• iNACOL State Policy Frameworks: 5 Critical Issues to Transform K-12 Education 
  
• Competency-Based Education: An Overview for Michigan’s Superintendents 
• A Look to the Future: Personalized Learning in Connecticut by CAPPS, CABE, and CAS
• Proficiency-Based Diploma System in Maine: Implementing District-Level High School Graduation Policies by Stump and Silvernail 
• Understanding Maine's Guiding Principles by Maine DOE 
• The Role of Learning Progression in Competency-Based Pathways by Achieve
• State Approaches to Competency-Based Education to Support College and Career Readiness for All Students by CCRS Center  
• Building Consensus and Momentum: A Policy and Political Landscape for K-12 Competency Education by KnowledgeWorks
• Educator Competencies for Personalized, Learner-Centered Teaching by JFF and CCSSO 
• Competency-Based Education: State Policy Communications Toolkit by Foundation for Excellence in Education 

2014   

About Competency Education

How To Resources

State and Federal Policy

Research and Evaluation

Other Related Topics

• Laying the Foundation for Competency Education: A Policy Guide for Next Generation Educator Workforce by iNACOL and KnowledgeWorks
• Equity in Competency Education: Realizing the Potential, Overcoming the Obstacles by JFF and Rand
• The Past and the Promise: Today's Competency Education Movement
• Blending toward competency: Early patterns of blended learning and competency-based education in New Hampshire by Clayton Christensen Institute 
• A Handbook for High Reliability Schools: The Next Step in School Reform by Marzano, Warrick, and Simms 
• New Hampshire: Our Story of Transformation
• Postsecondary Support for Competency-Based High School Transcripts by Achieve 

2013

About Competency Education

How To Resources

State and Federal Policy

Research and Evaluation

Other Related Topics

• Mean What You Say: Defining and Integrating Personalized, Blended and Competency Education by iNACOL
• Federal Innovation Competitions: A Catalyst for Competency Education by KnowledgeWorks
• An Emerging Federal Role for Competency Education by KnowledgeWorks
• Advancing Competency-based Pathways to College and Career Readiness by Achieve
• Strengthening High School Teaching and Learning in New Hampshire's Competency-Based System by Alliance for Excellence Education is a great case study of New Hampshire's efforts.
• The Shift from Cohorts to Competency published by Digital Learning Now! takes a look at design choices and new capabilities, especially when digital tools are available
• Maine's Center for Best Practices has case studies,  videos, and complementary resources at the Center for Best Practices.

• Aligning Competencies to Rigorous Standards for Off-track Youth: A Case Study of Boston Day and Evening Academy published by Jobs for the Future.

• Iowa, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania just released reports on the opportunities in their states.

• Competency Education Series: Policy Brief One: An Emerging Federal Role for Competency Education by Knowledgeworks

•  Competency Education Series: Policy Brief Two: Federal Innovation Competitions: A Catalyst for Competency Education by Knowledgeworks 

• Is K-12 Blended Learning Disruptive? An introduction of the theory of hybrids by Clayton Christensen Institute

• Anytime, Anywhere: Student-Centered Learning for Schools and Teachers by Wolfe

2012

• About Competency Education
• Making Mastery Work: A Close-Up View of Competency Education published by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation looks at 10 schools all with very different approaches (Nellie Mae Education Foundation)
• Off the Clock: Moving Education from Time to Competency by Fred Bramante and Rose Colby
• How To Resources
• It's About Time (Oregon's Business Education Compact)

Other Related Reading 2011 and Before

• State Strategies for Awarding Credit to Support Student Learning
• A New Model of Student Assessment for the 21st Century by Farrington and Small is found at American Youth Policy Forum
  
• Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns by Clayton Christensen, Michael B. Horn, and Curtis W. Johnson
• Tool Time for Education, by Langford Publishing

Readings about the Carnegie Unit

• Chapter 9: The Credit Hour, The Tie That Binds, by Jane Wellman and Thomas Ehrlich, in How the Student Credit Hour Shapes Higher Education: The Tie That Binds
• The Case For and Against the Carnegie Unit 
• Cracking the Credit Hour published by the New American Foundation explores trends in higher education towards competency education models.