Competency-Based Learning Definition (2024)

Competency-based learningrefers to systems of instruction,assessment, grading, and academic reporting that are based on studentsdemonstrating that they have learned the knowledge and skills they are expected to learn as they progress through their education. In public schools, competency-based systems use statelearning standardsto determine academic expectations and define “competency” or “proficiency” in a given course, subject area, or grade level (although other sets of standards may also be used, including standards developed by districts and schools or by subject-area organizations).The general goal of competency-based learning is to ensure that students are acquiring the knowledge and skills that are deemed to be essential to success in school, higher education, careers, and adult life. If students fail to meet expected learning standards, they typically receive additional instruction, practice time, andacademic supportto help them achieve competencyor meet the expected standards.

Defining competency-based learning is complicated by the factthat educators not only use a wide variety of terms for the general approach, but the terms may or may not be used synonymously from place to place. A few of the more common synonyms include proficiency-based,mastery-based,outcome-based,performance-based, andstandards-basededucation, instruction, and learning, among others.

In practice, competency-based learning can take a wide variety of forms from state to state or school to school—there is no single model or universally used approach. While schools often create their own competency-based systems, they may also use systems, models, or strategies created by state education agencies or outside educational organizations. Competency-based learning is more widely used at the elementary level, although more middle schools and high schools are adopting the approach. As with any educational strategy, some competency-based systems may be better designed or more effective than others.

Recently, the termscompetency-based learningorcompetency-based education(andrelated synonyms) have become more widely used by (1) online schools or companies selling online learning programs, and (2) colleges and universities, particularlythose offeringonline degree programs. It should be noted that “competency-based learning,” as it is typically designed and implemented inK–12 public schools, can differ significantly from the forms of“competency-based learning” being offered and promoted by online schools and postsecondary-degree programs.Atthe collegiate level, for example, competency-based learning may entail prospective adult studentsreceiving academiccreditfor knowledge and skills they acquired in their former careers—an approach that can reduce tuition costs and accelerate their progress toward earning a degree. It should also be noted that manyonline schools andeducationalprograms, at the both the K–12 and higher-education levels,have also become theobject of criticism and debate. Many for-profit virtual schools and online degree programs, for example, have been accused of offering low-quality educational experiences to students, exploiting students or public programs, and using the popularity of concepts such as “competency-based education” to promote programs of dubious educational value. When investigating or reporting on competency-based education, it is important to determine precisely how the terms are being used in a specific context.

Reform

Competency-based learning is generally seen as an alternative to more traditional educational approaches in which students may or may not acquire proficiency in a given course or academic subject before they earn coursecredit, get promoted to the next grade level, or graduate. For example, high school students typically earn academic credit by passing a course, but a passing grade may be an A or it may be a D, suggesting that the awarded credit is based on a spectrum of learning expectations—with some students learning more and others learning less—rather than on the same consistent standards being applied to all students equally. And since grades may be calculated differently from school to school or teacher to teacher, and they may be based on divergent learning expectations (i.e., some courses mightbe “harder” and others “easier”), it may be possible for students to pass their courses, earn the required number of credits, and receive a diploma without acquiring important knowledge and skills. In extreme cases, for example, students may be awarded a high school diploma but still be unable to read, write, or do math at a basic level. A “competency-based diploma” would be a diploma awarded to students only after they have met expected learning standards.

While the goal of competency-based learning is to ensure that morestudents learn what they are expected to learn, the approach can also provide educators with more detailed or fine-grained information about student learning progress, which can help them more precisely identify academic strengths and weakness, as well as the specific concepts and skills students have not yet mastered. Since academic progress is often tracked and reported by learning standard in competency-based courses and schools, educators and parents often know more precisely what specific knowledge and skills students have acquired or may be struggling with. For example, instead of receiving a letter grade on an assignment or test, each of which may address a variety of standards, students aregraded on specific learning standards, each of which describes the knowledge and skills students are expected to acquire.

When schools transition to a competency-based system, it can entail significant changes in how a school operates and how it teaches students, affecting everything from the school’s educational philosophy andcultureto its methods of instruction, testing, grading, reporting, promotion, and graduation. For example, report cards may be entirely redesigned, and schools may use different grading scales and systems, such as replacing letter grades with brief descriptive statements—e.g., phrases such asdoes not meet,partially meets,meets the standard, andexceeds the standardare commonly used in competency-based schools (although systems vary widely in design, purpose, and terminology). Schools may also use different methods of instruction and assessment to determine whether students have achieved competency, including strategies such asdemonstrations of learning,learning pathways,personal learning plans,portfolios,rubrics, andcapstone projects, to name just a few.

Debate

While there is a widespread agreement that students should be held tohigh academic expectations, and that public schools and teachers should make sure that students acquire the most important knowledge and skills they will need to succeed in adult life, there is often disagreement and debate about the best way to achieve these goals. For this reason, debates about competency-based learning tend to be focused on the methods used by schools, rather than the overall objective of the strategy (i.e., all students meeting high standards and achieving proficiency—a goal that few dispute).

Proponents of competency-based learning may argue that the approach greatly improves the chances that students will learn the most critically important knowledge, concepts, and skills they will need throughout their lives, and that competency-based learning can help to eliminate persistentlearning gaps,achievement gaps, andopportunity gaps. For these reasons, advocates of competency-based learning argue that the practice is a moreequitableapproach to public education, since it holds all students to the same high standards regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic status, or whether they attend schools in poor or affluent communities (uneven standards being applied to minority and non-minority students, or the uneven quality of teaching and facilities from school to school, are believed to be major contributing causes of issues such as achievement gaps). Proponents may also point to the weaknesses or failures of existing systems—which allow students to get promoted from one grade to the next and earn a diploma without acquiring important knowledge and skills—as evidence that competency-based approaches, of whatever sort, are needed. For a related discussion, see social promotion.

Critics of competency-based learning may argue that the transition will require already overburdened teachers to spend large amounts of time—and possibly uncompensated time—on extra planning, preparation, and training, and that competency-based learning can be prohibitively difficult to implement, particularly at a statewide level. Critics may also take issue with the learning standards that competency-based systems utilize, or with the specific features of a system used in a particular school. For example, parents often express concern that the abandonment of traditional letter grades, report cards, transcripts, and other familiar academic-reporting strategies will disadvantage students who are applying to colleges and universities (because the reporting strategies will be unfamiliar to college-admissions professionals, or because competency-based systems may eliminate many of the competitive dimensions of academic achievement, such as GPAs or class rank, that tend to favor high-achieving students). Others may question whether there is sufficient evidence that competency-based learning will actually work as intended.