Competencies: A Deep Dive

According the Iowa Competency-based Guidelines (2016),

Competency-based education results in deeper learning outcomes for students as they engage in application, analysis, and evaluation of academic content to prepare for postsecondary success. Students reach proficiency of academic content while learning how to think critically and creatively, collaborate and communicate effectively, adapt to challenges and complex problems, and be accountable for quality results. A CBE system validates learning and proficiency of standards and competencies that occur both in and outside the traditional school structure and that go beyond the constraints of seat time and siloed content areas. CBE enables districts and schools to provide student-centered, personalized learning systems through which students of all ages develop ownership of their learning and connect content to their interests and goals.

Legislative Support for Competency-based Pathways

In the Iowa Department of Education (2015) Code, 281—IAC 12.5(14) states that if a school district is using competency-based pathways, a unit of credit in grades 9-12 “requires the demonstration of proficiency of formal competencies associated with the course according to the State Guidelines for Competency-Based Education or its successor organization or it is an equated requirement as a part of an innovative program filed as prescribed in rule 281— 12.9(256)” (p. 59). The code further specifies that “(t)he number of hours a school or school district provides for content areas/courses in grades K-8 is locally determined” (p. 59), so K-8 schools may also advance students based on proficiency rather than based on seat time.

There are five components of a competency that must be managed during the design process (re-examine the Iowa Competency Validation Rubric (2017) for the quality criteria for a competency):

1. Relevance to Content Area: To what extent does this competency statement align with standards, leading students to conceptual understanding of content? The competency:
  1. - aligns with national, state, and/or local standards/frameworks; areas may be combined or clustered for learning;
    - articulates, in a clear and descriptive way, what is important in understanding the content area;
    - connects the content to higher concepts across content areas.
2. Enduring Concepts: To what extent does this competency statement reflect enduring concepts? The competency:
  1. - includes skills that are transferable across content areas and applicable to real-life situations;
    - requires an understanding of relationships between/among theories, principles, and/or concepts.
3. Cognitive Demand: What depth of knowledge does this competency statement promote? The competency:
  1. - requires deep understanding of content as well as application of knowledge to a variety of settings;
    - asks students to create conceptual connections to exhibit a level of understanding beyond stated facts or literal interpretation and defend their position via application of content;
    - promotes complex connections through creating, analyzing, designing, proving, constructing (mentally), or developing.
4. Universal Constructs: To what degree are the Universal Constructs reflected in the competency? (Critical Thinking, Complex Communication, Creativity, Collaboration, Flexibility and Adaptability, Productivity and Accountability) The competency:
  1. - demands demonstration of Universal Constructs, appropriate dispositions, and employability skills along with proficiency in the academic content;
    - requires students to transfer their learning (knowledge, skills, and dispositions) to complex situations in and/or across content areas and/or beyond the classroom.
5. Learner Centric: To what degree are student voice and choice inherent in the design process to demonstrate the competency? The competency:
  1. - communicates expectations for the learner in language that requires learner agency;
    - ensures the locus of control for design and demonstration of the competency is within the learner.

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