Putting Competencies into Practice
Equitable, essential curriculum provides clear learning targets for every student.
Clear learning competencies are the foundation of a personalized, competency-based education system. Putting these into practice requires creating a student learning continuum, the set of standards-based competencies that clearly communicates the knowledge and skills that each student is expected to master, identifying progressions and learning targets and implementing strategies to ensure alignment across all systems.
Developing and implementing a competency-based student learning continuum is a challenging but critical step to ensure that your personalized learning system creates the same expectation of achievement for all students through equitable, essential curriculum. Transparency is key. When all stakeholders, including students, families and community members, can see what students are learning and why, you ensure a community-wide commitment to personalized learning and the opportunity for learning to extend beyond the classroom.
FAQs About Competencies
KnowledgeWorks helps communities and states develop and implement a personalized, competency-based student learning continuum by:
- Facilitating a collaborative decision-making a process to identify the most important standards in each content area
- Helping educators align curriculum to state standards
- Ensuring critical dialogue around local vocabulary, national trends and alignment to the district’s vision
- Helping to define system implementation strategies, including real-time student supports, learning pace, reporting, technology platform and continuous improvement practices
- Sharing example learning continuums from other districts
Establishing Clear Guidelines
As we work with partners toward their shared vision, it’s important to use clear definitions and guides to help partners along the way and continue the work on their own, together.
