What is Competency Based Learning?

Competency based learning addresses what learners are expected to do rather than what they are to learn about. The U.S. Department of Education defines competency based learning as a "performance based process leading to demonstrated mastery of basic and life skills necessary for the individual to function properly in society."

Two Validity Questions to Frame a Performance Task

Sometimes as educators we get students who are thoroughly engaged in a particular topic, activity or experience but in the end their is no transfer of knowledge or new skills developed. An defensive lineman may hit the tackling dummy over and over again in practice, however, when the running back breaks through and makes a quick cut in a game, the lineman does not transfer the skills he developed in simulation over to real-life situations. A soccer player who consistently practices passing the ball in practice has to also have the ability to make that switch over to a game situation, when defensive players rush, the weather conditions are less desirable, rainy or even snow, to kick the ball with a certain kind of intensity. This also occurs in far too many of our classrooms, my former one included. What happens is we as teachers think we have "taught" a particular skill or reading comprehension strategy or the Pytharogem Theorem, but when students are given a problem in which the strategy was to be applied or using the Theorem to solve a problem, students respond with "what am I supposed to do? I don't know how to do this?" Often times because what we thought we taught students was never completely understood. To understand new information students must be connected to their prior knowledge, provided multiple examples of how to apply and use the information, and then given guided practice to demonstrate an understanding of the new concepts so that the teacher can make adjustments to the learning conditions. Two questions that are essential when creating and designing performance tasks, those just not based on rote memorization, but based on how the student creates, designs, or synthesizes new information, are the following: 1) Could the assessment and/or test be passed without understanding? and 2) Could the specific test performance be poor, but the student still reveal understanding in various ways before, during and after? The goal for both of these questions is for you to answer, "no" as a designer and author of your unit and/or lesson. Again, using backward design, from what your goals and lessons are, you can then begin to design the work that you want to have students to do. In the end, these questions are incredibly powerful to help and support you in a way that creates more than just exciting and engaging lessons for youth, but simultaneously, valid assessment tools to ensure that there is a transfer of knowledge that meets your learning outcomes.