Craft Category: Artifacts

This report explores the development of blended learning from 2008-2015, the evolution of definitions across blended learning models and effective blended instructional strategies grounded in case studies. The paper depicts how schools are implementing blended learning, increasing student engagement and academic success, and using digital content and curricula for data-driven instructional models while empowering youth. The case studies illustrate a range of blended learning implementations and provide insights for increasing program effectiveness.

In 2008, iNACOL produced a series of papers documenting promising practices identified throughout the field of K–12 online learning. Since then, we have witnessed a tremendous acceleration of transformative policy and practice driving personalized learning in the K–12 education space. State, district, school, and classroom leaders recognize that the ultimate potential for blended and online learning lies in the opportunity to transform the education system and enable higher levels of learning through competency-based approaches.

We worked with leaders throughout the field to update these resources for a new generation of pioneers working towards the creation of student-centered learning environments.

This paper describes effective district implementation strategies to convert traditional, one-size-fits-all models of education into more personalized, competency-based learning environments to meet students’ needs. This paper highlights strategies to engage, motivate, and teach all students to proficiency and mastery; depicts shifts in instruction toward deeper learning and meaningful assessments for learning; while exploring models of distributed leadership and educator empowerment.

This report is also available in four separate excerpts – each focused on one of these four implementation stages – to provide targeted information for leaders and educators in specific phases of transitioning to competency education.

1. Ramping Up for Transformation
2. Designing the Infrastructure for Learning
3. Transitioning to a Competency-Based System
4. Embracing Continuous Improvement and Innovation

This report includes information on implementing blended, competency-based education. It discusses the implications of personalized learning as a main pillar of school design, structured around ensuring equity and quality.

To assist school and district leaders in their efforts, the report emphasizes five fundamental conditions that are required to shift to personalized learning models:

1. Leadership: Updating the Human Capital Pipeline
2. Resources: Innovating Along a Continuum
3. Supportive Policy
4. Data Infrastructure and Technology Ecosystem
5. Community Engagement and Public Will

In May 2014, CompetencyWorks brought together twenty-three technical assistance providers to examine their catalytic role in implementing next generation learning models, share each other’s knowledge and expertise about blended learning and competency education, and discuss next steps to move the field forward with a focus on equity and quality. Our strategy maintains that by building the knowledge and networks of technical assistance providers, these groups can play an even more catalytic role in advancing the field. The objective of the convening was to help educate and level set the understanding of competency education and its design elements, as well as to build knowledge about using blended learning modalities within competency-based environments. This paper attempts to draw together the wide-ranging conversations from the convening to provide background knowledge for educators to understand what it will take to transform from traditional to personalized, competency-based systems that take full advantage of blended learning.

This Clearinghouse is a collaborative effort led by the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) and the Michigan Virtual Learning Research InstituteTM (MVRLITM) to provide a repository of references to research articles and other publications from the field of K-12 online and blended learning. This project has been made possible by generous financial support from Next Generation Learning Challenges and in-kind support from iNACOL and the Michigan Virtual University.

The report is focused on performance-based funding and the costs in online learning programs. This study examines the variety of funding models for K-12 online learning, explores adequacy costs, and outlines the guiding principles of performance-based funding to reward outcomes. As state policy makers consider performance-based funding options in education, this report provides recommendations and literature to expand the research base in support of equity, closing the achievement gap and increased student outcomes.

There is a new conversation taking place in public education on creating systemic incentives through school finance to encourage schools to innovate and be rewarded for positive student outcomes and performance. What if education funding was not based on seat-time, but on rewarding student performance? Performance-based funding is a term that captures this new concept.

The concept of performance-based funding is fairly straightforward—reward public education programs based on measurable student learning performance outcomes including course completion and competency development. It is also important to consider performance-based funding as a multi-step policy evolution from course completion to competency development. It is important to understand the idea that course completion-based funding is a step towards performance-based funding but is not the same as competency-based funding.

This report includes the key competencies and effective practices of teachers in successful blended learning environments? This research identifies 12 key competencies, organized into 4 larger domains: mindsets, qualities, adaptive skills, and technical skills. This tool is helpful for educators to understand their evolving role in blended learning environments, and it offers insights into the knowledge, skills and dispositions needed to make make new instructional methods successful. Emphasis is placed on the mindsets, qualities, and skills that support practitioners’ creative and continuous improvement as well as ability to thrive amidst change.

Imagine a high school student who does not have the opportunity to take all of the courses she needs to get into college. Today, for far too many young people, this is a sobering reality. Public schools around the country may lack the resources, staff, or demand to offer a full catalog of courses. According to recent data from the U.S. Department of Education, many students do not have access to all the courses that will prepare them for college and careers.

The learning opportunities a student has in grades K–12 provide a vital foundation for success in college and career, and these early competencies particularly matter in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields.

Course Access provides an incredible opportunity to end once and for all the inequitable barriers to college and career-ready coursework. Thanks to Course Access, a student attending a school that does not offer high-level math course work will be able to access the courses he needs to be prepared for and succeed in college through the free, public education system. Course Access courses can be core, advanced, career and technical education courses, credit-bearing internships, online courses, or traditional courses offered in settings outside the school building.

Course Access provides an opportunity to meet the challenge of ensuring that all students have equitable opportunities to become college and career ready.

This report provides an overview of how competency-based learning can provide the skills and training necessary to develop a next generation workforce. The paper discusses the new skills that educators will need, policy shifts that will need to occur, pre-service and credentialing, professional development, and evaluation. They provide case studies, including Western Governors University Teachers College and New Hampshire’s approach to teacher evaluation as promising practices.

Equity in education has been a basic tenet of public education in the United States, made explicit by civil rights legislation throughout the years. Unfortunately, legislation alone does not guarantee that all students will be provided with the access and equity necessary to take full advantage of the educational opportunities all students are entitled to.

The increasing role of technology to deliver content and instruction presents challenges for all educational programs, including blended and online learning. The goal of this publication is to raise awareness amongst educators, especially those in the blended and online community, of the importance of ensuring that all students are able to take advantage of all educational opportunities available to them.

An International Study in Competency Education: Postcards from Abroad seeks to highlight components of competency education in international practice, to inform US policymakers and decision makers seeking to implement high-quality competency pathways at the state or local level. Other countries are studying our innovations, and we are studying theirs.

This report first reviews the definition of competency-based learning. A brief lesson in the international vocabulary of competency education is followed by a review of global trends that complement our own efforts to improve performance and increase equitable outcomes. Next, we share an overview of competency education against a backdrop of global education trends (as seen in the international PISA exams), before embarking on an abbreviated world tour. We pause in Finland, British Columbia (Canada), New Zealand and Scotland, with interludes in Sweden, England, Singapore and Shanghai, all of which have embraced practices that can inform the further development of competency education in the United States.