Craft Category: Artifacts

This policy issue brief provides recommendations for state policymakers to generate a shared vision for student success that prepares all students for college, career and civic life.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides states with an unprecedented opportunity to transform K-12 education systems with new flexibility. The new law makes it possible for state leaders to start with a new definition of success that provides a more well-rounded education, redesign systems of assessments, accountability models, and educator preparation and development systems that coherently align to and support more holistic student learning outcomes.

Under ESSA, it calls for states to work with local communities and redefine student success — states have the potential to engage deeply with communities in conversations around the purpose of K-12 public education and what students should know and be able to do upon graduation. Conversations around new definitions of success can include academic competencies, social emotional competencies, skills and dispositions necessary for success. This issue brief provides recommendations and resources for state policymakers who are ready to engage deeply with communities and develop clear, comprehensive definitions of student success, designed to ensure every student can succeed in K-12 education and beyond.

This issue brief explores opportunities for states under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to rethink systems of assessments, and provides recommendations for state policymakers who are ready to support student-centered teaching and learning.

Assessment is essential for understanding what students have learned and for providing transparency and fairness when it comes to certifying mastery of knowledge and skills. Assessment can provide timely feedback to educators on where students are in their learning and to inform the supports that they need to succeed. In redesigning systems of assessments, state policymakers should consider what is needed to make assessment more meaningful and integrally linked to student learning.

There is a need to rethink the purpose and role of assessment in education systems. Systems of assessments that align to student-centered learning are important for the transformation to personalized, competency-based education systems that prepare all students for success. In addition, this brief introduces balanced systems of assessments and assessment literacy as two key concepts required for long-term sustainable systems transformation toward student-centered learning.

This publication seeks to advance K-12 competency education along four key issues: quality, equity, meeting students where they are, and policy.

K-12 education in the United States and across the world is at a critical point in its evolution, and the demand for competency education has never been greater. The four key issues outlined in this report are critical to enabling competency-based education to scale with quality and sustainability over the long term. The report provides actionable recommendations on how the field can advance through the next wave of innovation and implementation.

Learn more about this report from our archived webinar here. Report authors Nina Lopez, Chris Sturgis and Susan Patrick reflect on key ideas from this report, highlights from the National Summit on K-12 Competency-Based Education, and future directions for the field.