Competency-based education sets specific goals for students, who must demonstrate skills to earn credit. Goals are subject-specific and students move at their own pace. This approach is used in college, lower grades, and the workplace. Teachers must be organized and students self-disciplined.
Competency-based education is goal-oriented education. In a competency-based education, tangibly defined goals are clearly stated in the course, and once the student can demonstrate the skill or goal, credit is awarded. Competency-based education programs are often seen in college curricula, but can also be used in lower grades and in the workplace.
While competency-based goals have specifically defined parameters, there is some flexibility as to what will be considered competent. For example, for the desired skill to be able to read blueprints, the competency benchmark might be reading them with 90% accuracy or 100% accuracy. Once the benchmark is established, the student must meet the mark before moving on to the next competency objective.
Skills are not limited to charts, graphs and data. A political science student may be required to demonstrate competence in the analysis of political discourse. A marketing student may be required to demonstrate the ability to analyze an ad, identifying the target market, the ad’s strengths and weaknesses, and in which markets the ad should be served. Skills or learning objectives are subject-specific.
Traditional learning usually provides a curriculum for the semester, and at the end of the semester, the student takes a test to show what has been memorized or learned. Competency-based learning provides references along the way to demonstrate not so much what has been memorized, but useful and real skills that are marketable in everyday life. Rather than allowing partial learning to pass, as is the case in elementary school, the student must demonstrate competence in the skill with a 100% performance capability.
Students move at their own pace in competency-based education programs. Outcome objectives are defined at the beginning of the lesson. Once the student can demonstrate all the skills described in this curriculum, he moves on to the next course. This allows students to spend their time in areas that are difficult for them, while moving quickly through areas that are easy for them.
Students pursuing a competency-based education must be self-disciplined enough to work towards achieving their goals. Teachers working in competency-based programs must be organized as students progress at different rates throughout the course. Campuses can use these programs to define graduation requirements. Companies can use the program to define advancement requirements.
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