Competency-Based Education, Alternative Credentials andthe Role of Federal Policy

WCET Leadership SummitSalt Lake City, UT

May 7-8, 2014

Roadmap

• Competency-Based Education – What is it?• Federal policy and CBE today• Considerations for federal policy reform• Competency-based education and alternative

credentials

Defining CBE

• Competency: A clearly defined and measurable statement of knowledge, skill, or ability

• CBE Program: An educational program that is outcome-based and assesses a student’s attainment of competencies as the sole means of advancement (SACS COC)

• Possible Components: Self-paced, unbundled,

Direct Assessment Authority

In 2005, the Higher Education Act of 1965 was amended to include the following authority:

•“Instead of using credit hours or clock hours as a measure of student learning, instructional programs may use direct assessment of student learning, or recognize the direct assessment by others of student learning.”

•The application must specify the equivalent number of credit or clock hours for a direct assessment program (including how equivalencies will be established). 

•The Secretary will use these equivalencies to determine whether the program meets the minimum requirements for an academic year and as the basis for payment period and award calculations.

Direct Assessment Authority

“Instead of using credit hours or clock hours as a measure of student learning, instructional programs may use direct assessment of student learning, or recognize the direct assessment by others of student learning.”

Direct Assessment Authority

The application must specify the equivalent number of credit or clock hours for a direct assessment program (including how equivalencies will be established). 

Direct Assessment Authority

•The Secretary will use these equivalencies to determine whether the program meets the minimum requirements for an academic year and as the basis for payment period and award calculations.

Federal Policy and CBE

Reconciling CBE approach with Title IV requirements is not easy

Federal student aid eligibility and disbursements are based on seat time measures of learning Academic Year Enrollment Satisfactory academic progress (GPA, Pace)

• What do we want from a reform process?– Align policy with broad goals for higher

education• Access• Completion• Affordability• Quality• Relevance• Equity

–Minimize risks to students and taxpayers

CBE and The Role of Federal Policy

The Role of Experimentation and Evaluation

• Experimental Sites Authority (recent RFI and plans to test CBE)

• H.R. 3136: Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act of 2013

• First in the World• TAACCCT Round 4• IES Education Research Grants

CBE and Alternative Credentials

• Growing importance of non-degree credentials– Census Bureau Findings– OECD Rankings

• Competencies as a unifying currency for credentials

• Aligning accreditation processes for greater inter-operability of credentialing systems

Contact Information

Mary Alice McCarthyEducation Policy ProgramNew America Foundation

maryalice.mccarthy@newamerica.orgwww.newamerica.org