What is Competency Based Education?

I do my best to teach my precalculus class using a "Competency Based" approach (CBE). I first learned about this approach to learning at a conference hosted by Marzano Research. If you are familiar with the flipped classroom model, CBE is kind of like that, on steroids. A typical day in my precalculus classroom can be described as organized chaos. In planning my curriculum, I have identified the necessary learning outcomes and standards that are absolutely essential for advancing into the next course. Students are asked to teach themselves these skills, asking questions of me and each other as they advance. For each learning target, I provide two or three options for obtaining the information and then two or three different methods for practicing that skill.

For example, to learn about trigonometric identities, students can watch videos, use online software and form hypotheses as they explore the identities graphically, or read about the identities in the textbook. Then, students practice this skill in a method best suited to them. In the previous example, options include using online software to answer as many practice problems as needed to reach mastery, creating and proving their own identities, or writing proofs of identities. By experimenting with different activities, students develop a sense of where their strengths lie and the learning strategies that work well for them.

In my classes, students move at their own pace and do not advance to the next learning target until they have shown mastery of the current one. (I'll talk about how I assess them in a later post.) This creates an environment of hustle and bustle where each student might be working on a different learning target or a different activity on any given day. Students understand that it will take them a long time to master certain skills, but that others will be easy for them. They become comfortable with not knowing the answers right away and they see that persistence is the key to success. They learn to ask the right questions and use learning resources appropriately, as they forge a path to the answers they seek.

A competency-based approach, along with self-pacing, gives me the chance to check in with each student individually, to push advanced students to think more deeply and to challenge slower students at a level that is more appropriate for them. By feeling constantly challenged and given the freedom of choice, my students are motivated to work. They walk into class every day knowing exactly what they want to accomplish and they have a plan for how to do so. Every day, I see my students take pride in their work and take ownership of their learning.

The video below was created by a few students at our school. The first four minutes are edited and have cheesy music (but hey, it was made my high schoolers). The last five are just raw footage from a typical class period. The raw footage does a good job of showing the organized chaos in class as well as how easy it is for me to interact more personally with my students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRpJFbeCUpc