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Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you are having a wonderful day today. Today, we're going to be looking at competency-based education in conjunction with essential learning questions. For today's lesson, I've chosen a quote by Albert Einstein which states, "It is not that I am so smart, but I stay with the questions much longer." And that's what we're going to be looking at today.
By the end of the lesson today you will be able to review the five competency-based education design principles, understand the five essential questions that all teachers should really ask themselves-- education essential questions that are associated with the work of DuFour-- and connect the five essential questions to competency-based education design principles.
So iNACOL is the International Association for K-12 online learning. And this is a nonprofit organization that is really focused and dedicated to research and equality, looking at access, and quality in technology-rich learnings. So helping to make sure that students are really getting all of those opportunities.
What they did was they developed design principles and components for educators to use when they're planning their elements, and lessons, and units within competency-based instruction. So what I'd like to do is go ahead and take a look at those five components of competency-based education. First, the first component is that all students need to be able to demonstrate what they've learned before continuing or moving on. This really focuses in on students ensuring that they are meeting each various level to proficiency, and then moving on. Again, focusing in on that self-pacing we've talked about.
Number two, if students are unable to demonstrate that mastery within a particular learning area, there are many different interventions and additional opportunities that should be offered by the educators in order to help that student reach proficiency or reach mastery within a particular area. The third major component is that teachers provide clear expectations and learning targets. This is really important in helping to assure that students feel like they are capable of achieving what they need to within competency-based education.
The fourth major component is that common assessments and standards-based proficiency measures are used to assess mastery. So there are very similar assessments that all students are going to be able to take, and they really focused in on measurable goals and details, helping to ensure that students are proficient within each strand or standard, and then they are able to move on.
Finally, the fifth element is that learning expectations are standard, but they can be personalized to individual learning needs. So these standards need to look the same for almost all students at the start, but it's really important to note that teachers and students can help personalize these standards to help personalize the learning element for each individual student, and to help make sure that it meets all of the learning needs.
Now let's go ahead and take a look at those five essential questions that are associated with DuFour's work. These are questions that all teachers should be asking themselves when developing those instructional plans. These are really important as you look at how you plan your lesson, your unit, and your curriculum level to ensure that you are planning in order to help the student achieve what they need to know.
The first question is, what do students need to know and be able to do? First and foremost, what do they need to know? Because if I don't know where I'm going, I won't know when they've gotten there. Two, how will I get them there? Once I know the end point, what is the path I'm going to use to help them get there?
How will I know if they are there? What will I be able to see and recognize to know that students have achieved mastery at a certain level? What will I do if they're not there? Have I planned differentiation into my classroom in order to ensure I can get them there, and help them if they're not getting it? And what will I do if they're already there. If some students are achieving this mastery faster, what can I do to help still make the time in class relevant to them?
Now that we've looked at those two main areas, I'd like to connect them together looking at essential questions in conjunction with the CBE design principles. So first and foremost, our first question there was, what do students need to know and be able to do? This is really looking at, based on those standards, what should each student be able to do by the end of the unit, or the lesson, or the entire course itself?
And I think this connects right up with the design principle that learning outcomes should really emphasize the creation and application of knowledge. So when I'm looking at that end point, I want to make sure that my learning outcome is worded in such that it's based in the standard, but it also emphasizes that creation and application of the student's knowledge.
The second main essential question we ask ourselves is, how will I get them there? Based upon where each student is, what should the learning plan be for that individual student? And that matches right up with the design principle that assessment is meaningful and becomes a positive learning experience for students. Making sure that each assessment matches the student where they are, and your class where they are, and where they need to be, helps to make that more meaningful to them. Then also making sure that the assessment that you give is applicable to those 21st century skills can really help.
Three, how will I know if they are there? This is where we look at ensuring that students are empowered by explicit and measurable learning objectives. This is combining two different elements, one that's very teacher-centric and another that's student-centric.
You are focusing in on students being empowered by those specific learning objectives, and then meeting them, being sure that you are meaningfully assessing the student so that you know that they have achieved mastery is made clearer when the students know explicitly what it is they are going to be measured. The clearer you are with yourself, the clearer you are with your students, the clearer it will be that they've achieved mastery.
And the fourth question, what will I do if they are not there? This lines right up with how you can differentiate and personalize that instruction so that the learning plan is able to meet the needs of every student that you have in your classroom, ensuring that every student is able to meet those objectives. And if they don't, they can receive that rapid, differentiated support to help get them there.
The final essential question is, what will I do if they're already there? And this really focuses in on students' ability to advance when they can demonstrate that mastery. What level of mastery indicates that a student is ready to move on? And you can continue to offer them more support so that they can really adapt that learning to themselves. You're also going to want to focus in on, what will they move on to, helping to ensure that you're keeping that path going.
A lot of districts have found that the use of adaptive or other online learning platforms are really helpful in facilitating this true self-paced competency-based instruction. So if this is something that you're considering moving to, make sure that you examine all of the different elements that you can use to help fully achieve this.
Now that we've reached the end of the lesson, you're able to review the five competency-based education design principles, understand the five essential questions that all teachers should ask themselves, and really look at how those two elements can connect together and work together to strengthen your classroom. Now I want you to take just a moment to think about the different ways in which you could apply these elements to the teaching that you are doing right now.
As you reflect on how this new information can be applied, you might want to explore the additional resources section that accompanies this video presentation. That's where you'll find links to resources chosen to really help you deep in your learning and explore new ways to apply this new skill set.
(00:00-00:20) Intro
(00:21-00:42) Objectives
(00:43-03:12) iNacol’s 5 Components of CBE
(03:13-04:25) 5 Essential Questions
(04:26-07:36) Connecting Design Principles & Essential Questions
(07:37-07:55) Review
(07:56-08:22) Reflection
Professional Learning Communities: Four Essential Questions and how we respond
This website from Stevenson Elementary School explains how to use the PLC essential questions to drive improvement. The school draws connections to Response to Intervention (RtI) as well as Gifted and Talented in response to the PLC essential learning questions.
http://www.dps61.org/domain/1578
The Learning Edge: Supporting Student Success in a Competency-Based Learning Environment
This is a comprehensive report by Laura Shubilla and Chris Sturgis on CBE. Scroll to section III to understand the design principles behind establishing a CBE learning environment.
http://www.competencyworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/iNACOL_CW_IssueBrief_LearningEdge_full.pdf