Personalized, competency‑based education has entered a new phase. What began as pilot programs and school- or district-level successes is now showing up in statewide policy, system‑level redesign and everyday classroom practice. This 2026 snapshot examines the current state of the field, highlighting shifts in policy, learning models and educator roles, along with growing evidence that the focus has moved from experimentation to building durable, aligned systems.
Policy and Systems: What’s changing at the state and system level?
- Redefining high school graduation for the modern workforce
State high school graduation requirements are undergoing a significant national shift, moving away from a traditional “one-size-fits-all” model heavily reliant on seat time and standardized exit exams toward flexible, competency-based pathways focused on future readiness. Read more about how New York is approaching this change. - Portraits of a Graduate are now mainstream
More than 20 states and hundreds of districts use Portraits of a Graduate to define durable skills alongside academics. Read more about how some states are using Portraits to inspire college and career pathways and how Nevada approached developing its statewide Portrait. - Student-centered learning strategies create more relevant career and technical education
Explore how states are leveraging student-centered learning strategies for career and technical education (CTE) and how policy systems are helping translate portrait visions into relevant learning experiences.
Practice and Learning Models: What are classrooms and systems doing differently?
- Personalized, competency-based learning is scaling statewide
States like North Dakota have built statewide networks to align policy, practice and support for personalized, competency-based learning. Read more about the progress in North Dakota in this case study. - Systems are moving beyond education innovation pilots
Change is shifting from pilots to system-level redesign, addressing grading, assessment, schedules and transcripts together. Examples can be seen in Nevada, Utah, North Dakota, Kentucky and many more. - High school redesign and thinking about time differently
Several years ago, there were increasing calls to move away from the Carnegie Unit and using time as a unit of measurement. Organizations partnered to issue a call for more meaningful forms of assessment, while others are offering up different interpretations of time. Even the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching supports moving away from the Carnegie Unit. - Assessments are evolving to become more formative and timely
Competency-based systems emphasize ongoing, actionable assessment that supports learning, not just endpoint evaluation. This is part of an ongoing trend that can be seen in states across the country.
People and Capacity: How are roles and expectations changing?
- Educator roles are being redefined
Educator competency frameworks describe shifts toward designing learning, facilitating progress and supporting learner agency. Read more about the shifting evolution of educator roles in papers and articles from KnowledgeWorks, Transcend and Education Reimagined. - Learner agency is central, not optional
Students are expected to make meaningful decisions about pace, pathway and demonstration of learning. This concept is explored in a white paper from Partners for Educational Leadership and illustrated in an article about Arizona’s Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District. - Teaching training programs are emphasizing student-centered learning
Teacher training programs in institutions of higher education are incorporating learner-centered strategies into their curriculum, as seen in Montana, Arizona, North Dakota, Michigan and more.
Proof, Alignment and Momentum: What are signals that the field is maturing?
- Research is focusing on the quality of implementation
Recent studies track depth of practice and implementation, not just whether systems have adopted the model. A report from Research for Action explores implementation outcomes in Arizona and KnowledgeWorks published a report looking at implementations in Arizona, North Dakota, Ohio and South Carolina. - Higher education is expanding the field
While competency-based education had long been present in higher education, it was often isolated to specific areas, such as medical areas of study. Now it’s becoming much more mainstream and supporting relationships between higher education and employers, as explored in this paper by the Competency Based Education Network (C-BEN) and a project from JFF.
