Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education: The Relationship Between Competency-Based Education Practices and Students’ Learning Skills, Behaviors, and Dispositions

This study from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation looked at the relationship between competency-based education (CBE) practices and changes in student learning capacity. In three states, surveys were administered to Grade 9 students, teachers, and administrators in high schools that were identified as schools implementing CBE and a set of comparison high schools identified as not implementing CBE. Some key results from the study showed that (1) the implementation of CBE practices ranged significantly across schools, (2) teachers in CBE schools used CBE practices more than teachers in comparison schools, and (3) many teachers in schools that had not adopted a CBE approach still reported using features of CBE practices.