Comparing goals to outcomes for graduates of a competency-based education program

Abstract

Background

The case for the efficacy of competency-based education (CBE) has been hampered by the lack of research on the outcomes of CBE programs. Because so many programs are relatively new, the outcomes data that have been published do not extend much beyond graduation. In addition, it focuses almost exclusively on job-related outcomes even though CBE learners have multiple goals.

Aims

This study seeks to assess the enduring outcomes of a CBE program by comparing the goals students articulated upon starting the program to the outcomes they identified several years after it.

Methods

The initial goals that 68 graduates articulated when they began this program were used to develop a survey that was sent to the 58 students for whom contact information was available. Thirty-three responded to the survey, resulting in a 57% response rate.

Results & Discussion

This CBE program had an enduring positive impact on the goals the students articulated when they started the program. Students started the program with more professional and personal than social goals, and they reported more professional and personal outcomes. The impact of the CBE program was most pronounced in personal outcomes.

Conclusion

This study offers a limited contribution to the nascent research into the efficacy of CBE. It raises several questions for further study, including the extent to which the primary value of CBE is degree completion.