After two decades of standards-based reform, a new education paradigm has begun to take hold -- the rise of competency education. This new vision builds on the strong foundation of new college and career ready standards, challenging stakeholders to design an education system that emphasizes mastery of content standards and the transferable skills critical to success in college and today's workforce.
A competency education system puts students at the center, replacing rigid time-based structures with flexible learning environments that ensure students receive the support and extra time they need to succeed. This highly-personalized approach provides clear, individualized pathways to student proficiency that help mobilize stakeholders around the collective goal of college and career readiness for all students.
A growing number of states and districts have begun to embrace this vision for education, leading to an explosion of new policies, pilot initiatives, and tools designed to help schools implement competencybased approaches.The success of the competency movement depends heavily on the federal government's willingness to partner with states and districts as they design education systems that put students at the center.
A true partnership will grant states the flexibility to innovate and develop equally ambitious accountability and assessment policies that better align with student centered education to ensure all students graduate with the knowledge and skills to succeed.
This paper is the first in a series to help policymakers define the appropriate role for the federal government supporting competency education in the nation's K-12 schools.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States
This Field Guide is designed to give quick and easy access to key data that will support the work to improve Idaho's education system.
To meet the needs of the 21st century workforce and economy, the Idaho State Board of Education has set an ambitious goal: 60% of Idahoans age 25-34 will have a post-secondary certificate or degree by 2020.
Given the current status and pace of progress, we are not on track to meet that goal.
Idaho must do better to prepare its students for success.
This Field Guild provides the facts and figures, with key information and insight, about the need and opportunity to improve Idaho's K-12 education system.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States (Western) / Idaho
Education and Literacy;Men;Race and Ethnicity
The first of a four-volume series on the role of school counseling in the education of young men of color, this report includes short essays, student-produced artwork, and an interview on the topic.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States
Education and Literacy, Parenting and Families
The James Irvine Foundation launched the Families Improving Education (FIE) initiative in 2008 by funding eleven community-based organizations in California's Central Valley and Inland Empire to support parent involvement in K-12 educational policymaking. Families In Schools, a Los Angeles-based advocacy organization was selected to serve as a technical assistance provider and grant-making intermediary. The FIE initiative is based on the premise that parent-engagement efforts can foster more responsive and appropriate school policies that enhance student success. This report, prepared by Harder+Company Community Research, highlights the insights and promising strategies of the FIE initiative, looking closely at three core components: increasing the involvement of parents in K-12 decision-making; influencing educational decisions, policies, and practices that lead to improved academic outcomes; and strengthening the capacity of community-based organizations to engage in educational advocacy.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States (Western)-California
Education and Literacy;Prison and Judicial Reform
This guide for practitioners is one of four manuals that, together, explain how drug court teams can create a program to help drug court participants pursue higher education. The Practitioners Manual provides a road map for the entire program, which gives step-by-step guidance to participants enrolling in and seeking financial aid for college.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States (Northeastern) / New York
Education and Literacy;Prison and Judicial Reform
This guide for trainers is one of four manuals that, together, explain how drug court teams can create a program to help drug court participants pursue higher education. The Practitioners Manual provides a road map for the entire program, which gives step-by-step guidance to participants enrolling in and seeking financial aid for college. The other three manuals provide support for participants, interns and trainers.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States (Northeastern) / New York
Education and Literacy, Employment and Labor
This paper synthesizes findings from the Research Alliance's investigation of teacher turnover in New York City's public middle schools. These years are widely recognized as a critical turning point for students, and the NYC Department of Education (DOE) is pursuing a range of middle school improvement initiatives. The stability of the middle school teaching force has the potential to facilitate or complicate these efforts, yet there have been few studies of the rates and patterns of teacher turnover in the City's middle schools.
This study provides the most current, comprehensive look at middle school teacher turnover to date. Drawing on a range of data sources -- including DOE human resource records from the last decade, a survey of over 4,000 full-time middle school teachers, and in-depth case studies in four middle schools -- this paper examines how long middle school teachers remain in their schools, how long they intend to stay, and what predicts whether or not they leave. It also explores how various aspects of teachers' work environment may influence these decisions. Among the key findings: Among middle school teachers who entered their school during the last decade, more than half left that school within three years -- significantly higher than the rates seen for elementary and high school teachers. Of the teachers who leave, most exit the NYC public school system altogether, and only about 1 in 10 transition to another grade 6-8 school. The findings point to several strategies that may be useful for increasing middle school teachers' lengths of stay.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States (New York Metropolitan Area)
Schools throughout the country will soon begin to implement the Common Core State Standards and adopt the Next Generation Science Standards. These new standards, which are "fewer, clearer, and higher" than existing state standards, are designed to provide all young people with the knowledge and skills they need for success in a global economy.
Though they are a powerful tool for improving our educational system, standards alone cannot deliver widespread, meaningful change. To bring all students to much higher levels of achievement and to help underprepared students catch up to meet the standards' new demands, we must "do school differently." This means redesigning how schools use teaching, time, technology, and money to create opportunities for more young people to succeed. And, it means replacing existing one-size-fits-all approaches with rigorous, personalized learning that creates multiple opportunities for students to be successful.
Individual interventions are important, yet by themselves, they are not likely to produce sufficiently strong outcomes to help all students meet the demands of the new standards. Instead of retooling individual elements such as teacher preparation, learning time, or technology in isolation, all the elements that we know work and some emerging tools must be integrated into comprehensive school designs that will truly meet the needs of every student.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States
