Proficiency-Based Learning

Vermont Agency of Education Briefs

At the agency, we recognize that many school systems have moved beyond discussing the "what" and the "why" of proficiency-based learning.  Others, however, are still in the initial stages of implementation. Regardless of where educators are along this continuum, it is important to revisit these questions at different points in time to help ensure a shared vision for the future. These briefs can be used to provoke important conversations among educators. Questions to consider include: How do these documents align with our thinking? How are they different? What might be missing?

• Proficiency-Based Learning Glossary
• Why is Proficiency-Based Learning Important?
• Key Characteristics of a Proficiency-Based Learning System of Education
• What is Proficiency-Based Learning?
• Research Brief: Proficiency-Based Grading Practices

Proficiency-Based Learning Resources

Suggested Readings/Resources 

• CBE 360 Survey Toolkit
• Competency-Based Education: Staying Shallow or Going Deep?

• Designing for Equity: Leveraging Competency-Based Education to Ensure All Students Succeed

• Educator Competencies for Personalized, Learner-Centered Teaching

• Leadership Competencies for Learner-Centered, Personalized Education
• Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education: The Relationship Between Competency-Based Education Practices and Students’ Learning Skills, Behaviors, and Dispositions

• Meeting Students Where They Are

• Reaching the Tipping Point: Insights on Advancing Competency Education in New England
• The Future of Learning: Redefining Readiness from the Inside Out
• The Science of Learning

Transcripts

• How do Colleges View Proficiency-Based Transcripts?
• How Selective Colleges and Universities Evaluate Proficiency-Based Transcripts: Insights for Students and Schools
• Mastery Transcript Consortium
• Vermont’s Journey Toward Proficiency and Personalization: College Acceptance and the Proficiency-Based Transcript

Proficiency-Based Learning (Competency-Based Education) Across the United States

The map below, created by iNACOL,  indicates competency education is advancing across the country. Even in many of the states with little or no interest in exploring competency education, there are educators pursuing a better way to organize education so that students receive the instructional support they need. 

Organizations that Support Proficiency-Based Learning

• Achieve-National, resources about competency-based pathways, graduation requirements, and college and career readiness.
• Competency Works, Learning from the Cutting Edge, resources to support the understanding of competency-based education, personalization, and related policies.
• Great Schools Partnership, resources for developing efficient standards-based systems that prepare all students for 21st-century colleges, careers, and communities.
• Innovative Lab Network, a collaborative effort among states that are taking action to identify, test, and implement student-centered approaches to learning.
• Innovative Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL), resources on key topics that equip and empower leaders to catalyze and scale personalized, next generation learning models.
• Nellie Mae Education Foundation, a knowledge base of materials created by funding projects that provide evidence of student-centered learning that enables every student to develop the skills and knowledge they need for the future.

• The Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education currently partners with nearly three dozen schools around Vermont, supporting them as they move towards a tech-rich, student-centered model of young adolescent education.

• Up for Learning: Communicating School Redesign, a statewide campaign by and for all Vermonters who are dedicated to redesigning our public schools so that our communities will thrive, now and in the years ahead.

  • Stories on the Road to Proficiency

  • Our Time

    • Talking  About Our Time Behind the Scenes of the Sound Check

    • The Promise of Our Time Dialogue Guide

Note: Competency and proficiency-based learning are used interchangeably in the resources above.

Questions?

Email Pat Fitzsimmons or call (802) 479-1425