Levers and Logic Models: A Framework to Guide Research and Design of High-Quality Competency-Based Education Systems. CompetencyWorks Report

Overview & Synopsis

Competency-based education, also referred to as mastery-based, proficiency-based or performance-based education, is a system of education designed to equitably ensure all students develop the success skills they will need for college, career and life. Competency-based education is gaining momentum and visibility. Districts and schools turn to competency-based education for different reasons: to develop globally competitive graduates, to design schools that promote what is best for students, to achieve greater equity, to create a system of continuous improvement and learning, and to foster deeper learning. At the National Summit on K-12 Competency-Based Education in 2017, researchers and practitioners recommended that a logic model be developed to catalyze a shared understanding of competency-based education. In response to this recommendation, the framework and logic models provided in this paper seek to describe a fully developed competency-based education system. They draw upon multiple bodies of research literature, as well as input from local and national practitioners in the field of competency education. The picture of competency-based education described here is of a fully implemented high-quality system. It is aspirational, as it describes a state that most systems have not yet attained. It is also real, as it is grounded in bodies of knowledge that show why implementing competency-based education with quality can lead to greater educational equity.