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The WHAT of Competency Based Education 2019

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Part one of a three part video series based on questions from staff, students, and parents. This video focuses on answering the questions What Are Competencies and What Is Competency-Based Education?

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In the fall of 2018, Keene High School students, parents, and staff had the opportunity to share questions they have about competency-based education at KHS.
This is a three part video series based on questions from staff, students, and parents. This is video #1 in this series. This video focuses on answering the questions What Are Competencies and What Is Competency-Based Education?
We are excited that Keene High School is working to offer students the opportunity to demonstrate their learning in this new way.
Competencies and competency-based education have been discussed in NH since 2005 when the state began building a policy that required high schools to create competencies.
Before we provide a definition of competencies and competency-based education, we want to share an example with you. This will help to put the definitions in context.
Let’s look at the example of driving a car. A licensed driver needs to know and understand all the complexities of driving a car and the rules of the road. This is content. A driver also needs to apply that knowledge by actually driving. This is skills. When a driver demonstrates she knows the contentand the skills then she meets the competency.
Competency-based education operates the same way. Students need to know content in the subject, AND they need to know how to apply this content by demonstrating skills.
It takes practice to really learn these skills. This practice is just like learning to parallel park...almost, closer, got it!
In this example, the combination of content knowledge and demonstration of skills looks like this.
Knowledge (Rules of the road) + Skill (Driver training) = Competency (Got my license)
Now that you have this example as a reference, let’s look at what competency-based education is.
Competency-based education allows students to engage in more meaningful and relevant challenges in order to truly learn a concept and skill. It’s about students demonstrating what they can do with what they know.
Competencies are all about students applying what they learn by demonstrating their knowledge and skills in authentic ways. Learning is not just about recalling and remembering facts. It is real-world application and mastery. Content is no longer king in the classroom; content is the vehicle to enable students to demonstrate their learning.
Competency- based education ensures that students acquire the knowledge and skills that are essential to be successful in school, career, and adult life.
 
In competency-based education…
•	Students work toward mastery of competencies in each course 
•	Competencies include clear, measurable, and transferable learning targets.
•	Assessment is a meaningful and engaging experience for students.
•	Assessments are connected to standards.
•	Support is differentiated based on learning needs.
•	Skills and work-study practices are developed while students gain and apply their knowledge.
•	Students acquire transferable skills that can be applied to school work, jobs, and life.
•	Academic competencies are assessed separately from cornerstone competencies
Competency-based education provides an equitable system of learning that looks at big picture ideas. Students are not merely completing a list of tasks in the classroom. The focus is not on competition among students and their grades. Competency-based education is about providing opportunities for all students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. It’s also about students acquiring transferable skills. This means skills they learn in math class such as problem solving may used in other classes like world language and business.
You are probably asking yourself What Are Academic Competencies and What are Cornerstone Competencies?
Each department created their own academic competencies by reviewing national and state standards. We shifted existing standards into different buckets, organizing where and when and how we address these standards and learning targets. Departments have 3 – 8 competencies, and some of these competencies are used in every course the department offers while others may be specific to one or two courses.
For example, there are many English standards that address reading and writing, so the English  department created two competencies that encompass all of these standards.
Reading: Students will demonstrate the ability to comprehend, analyze, and critique a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print text.
Writing: Students will demonstrate the ability to write argument, narrative, and informational texts for a variety of purposes and audiences.
In addition to academic competencies, employers, colleges, and the military are calling on schools to develop 21st Century Skills such as collaboration, communication, innovation, problem-solving, and responsibility. Skills that are valuable in the workplace, citizenship, and family life.
Competency-based education separates academic competencies from cornerstone competencies. This means students’ academic progress is not averaged with cornerstone competencies such as class participation or collaborating in groups.
Now that we’ve provided more information about competencies and competency-based education, we want to share 4 specific examples of what this looks like at KHS. Just like the driving example earlier in the video, these examples show how students meet competencies by demonstrating mastery in content and skills.
One example is our English 9 course. Short story analysis and a deep understanding of literary terms have always been the goal for the first unit of the semester. In the past teachers gave a traditional test to assess those skills, but now that same traditional test is used as a formative assessment to check for
understanding, and then it’s followed up with a summative activity with students writing original short stories to demonstrate a deeper understanding of literary terms by creating their own unique story utilizing the devices learned from studying published classics. This change in assessment and focus allows students to be creative, independent thinkers and to develop ownership of the literacy skills they are mastering.
Another example is the acapella choir class. A recording of the rehearsal is followed by small groups filling out a google form that asks for evidence about musical elements that are outlined in the arts standards. After the performance, the class then views a recording of the actual performance and completes the process again to see if they implemented revisions and corrections to what they identified in the rehearsal recording.
In a chemistry course, students take on the role of a researcher working for a startup vinegar company trying to generate vinegar that meets the FDA guidelines.
Let’s take a Cheshire Career Center course:
Construction Trades 1: The competency states: Understand the concepts, techniques and procedures of installation in order to install floor framing systems. The students are demonstrating accurate cutting and installation of joists that will be used on a house they build in Construction Trades 2. The house will be purchased and moved in a few years. 
Competency-based Education isn’t a “one-and-done” philosophy. Students need to demonstrate mastery in multiple ways and multiple times. This isn’t a checklist. The goal is to provide opportunities for students to engage and grow as learners.
KHS is on the journey toward implementing competency-based education. The road may be unfamiliar for a little while, but we’re all driving to the same destination: learning that is robust, flexible, authentic, meaningful, and empowering. Video #2 in this series will explain the question, “why is KHS moving to competency based education?”

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