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OPINION: Post pandemic, it’s time for a bold overhaul of U.S. public education, starting now

The Hechinger Report

After unprecedented learning loss, growing disparities in educational outcomes and overall public dissatisfaction, the time is right for an education overhaul. A decade ago, barely half of all states had policies in place that allowed for personalized, competency-based learning. We should ask no less of ourselves.

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What a Summer Prototype Taught Us About Measuring Quality in an Unbundled Education System

Edsurge

Our collective goal was to begin to rethink quality assurance in an educational system with an array of learning providers. Framework for the Future of Learning. Our current approach of summative assessments has few fans. It is burdensome and takes big chunks of time away from learning. Source: ReSchool).

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Vermont’s ‘all over the map’ effort to switch schools to proficiency-based learning

The Hechinger Report

The rubrics and learning targets are now fixtures in each Montpelier classroom. In the four-column rubric for precalculus assessment, Machnik explained what it would take to be “emerging,” “developing,” “proficient” and “exemplary” in trigonometric equations. Coen likes the new flexibility around assessment retakes.

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In Utah, personalizing learning by focusing on relationships

The Hechinger Report

When he moved from principal of the high school to superintendent in 2013, he initiated a conversation about priorities with school board members, educators and the community. In thinking about how a semirural school district could support equity and opportunity for kids, they talked a lot about personalized and competency-based learning.

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A school where you can’t fail — it just takes you longer to learn

The Hechinger Report

They get frequent updates on which skills they’ve learned and which ones they need to acquire. Mastery-based learning, also known as proficiency-based or competency-based learning, is taking hold across the country. Ten school districts in Illinois, including Chicago, are piloting the approach.

Learning 107
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Has New Hampshire found the secret to online education that works?

The Hechinger Report

After clawing his way through college, however, he had a distinguished career in education — first as a middle school science teacher (where he and Bette met), then as a long-time member and chair of New Hampshire’s state board of education, and now as president of the nonprofit National Center for Competency-Based Learning.

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A school once known for gang activity is now sending kids to college

The Hechinger Report

It’s built around a skills-based model that prioritizes student mastery, extensive community outreach and a culture that views college enrollment as an expectation rather than a long shot. Calendar-driven midterm and final exams are jettisoned in favor of ongoing assessments. The results have been dramatic. We call them ‘benchmarks’.”

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