The Journal of Competency-Based Education最新文献

This Volume 6 second issue follows on the heels of JCBE’s special issue on The Future of Learning & Work: How Focusing on Competencies will Support Equitable Economic Recovery. I want to thank Stacey Clawson from Jobs For the Future (JFF) for her tireless efforts as the guest editor-in-chief as well as her colleagues, Ashley Bliss Lima and Mara Lockowandt, for their support as guest Associate Editors. What a wonderful way for JCBE to kick off 2021 and Volume 6. This issue contains four themed miniclusters with seven manuscripts of original research, one commentary, one article on an emerging issue, and one additional editorial (aside from the one I am writing at this moment). It is such an interesting mix of ideas, discoveries, questions, and perspectives!

The first minicluster consists of two manuscripts focused on health care and an editorial with recommendations for the future related to CBE. The first manuscript by Dr. Vasquez from the Van Andel Institute and his colleagues at the University of Michigan delve deeply into the foundations of Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) in contrast with Competency-Based Higher Education (CBHE) in their article entitled The parallel evolution of CBE in medical and higher education. The authors examine issues of affordability, access goals, barriers to CBE, and a discussion of assessment and standards setting work in CBME. The second article continues with the healthcare theme by exploring how CBE nursing programs successfully reduce costs and maintain or improve the quality of education as measured by NCLEX pass rates. The authors, Dr. Hossler and his colleague, Dr. James, at Western Governors University, underscore the importance of evaluating quality, cost, and time to completion as measures of CBE effectiveness in their article entitled Competency-based nursing: Reducing cost while maintaining or improving quality. This minicluster of healthcare themed articles concludes with an editorial by Dr. James entitled Three US post-COVID legislative, regulatory, and higher education recommendations: Future considerations for policy, compliance, accreditation and curricula. The author proposes three recommendations showing how CBE can positively impact college enrollment declines resulting from educational disruption due to COVID-19.

The second minicluster of manuscripts relates to the High School to College journey with an article of original research, a commentary, and an emerging issue. Mr. McPherson explores the experiences of middle and high school teachers in his article entitled A Metamorphosis of an Educator: A hermeneutic phenomenology study of the perceptions and lived experiences of the 6-12 educator in transitioning from teacher-centered to student-centered Learning. Situated in the mastery-based learning context in Idaho, the author explores changes in philosophy of education, methods of teaching, and teacher–student relation

The novel coronavirus has dramatically altered teaching and learning for the foreseeable future. In addition to economic and workforce effects, the present predicts gaps from learning deficiencies for all current K-12 students (Education Journal, 2021). Therefore, the direct syllogism anticipates fewer numbers of qualified college applicants in the coming generation. Thus, bold action can mitigate negative potential future social disruption impacts. Virtual practitioner training, license and program reciprocity, and interdisciplinary studies can ensure quality practitioner mobility and the ability to meet the workforce needs of all fields across the nation—at local, state, regional, and national levels.

Performance assessments (PAs) offer a more authentic measure of higher order skills, which is ideal for competency-based education (CBE) especially for students already in the workplace and striving to advance their careers. The goal of the current study was to examine the validity of undergraduate PA score interpretation in the college of IT at a CBE online, higher education institute by evaluating (a) the transparency of cognitive complexity or demands of the task as communicated through the task prompt versus expected cognitive complexity based on its associated rubric aspect and (b) the impact of cognitive complexity on task difficulty. We found that there is a discrepancy in the communicated versus expected cognitive complexity of PA tasks (i.e., prompt vs. rubric) where rubric complexity is higher, on average, than task prompt complexity. This discrepancy negatively impacts reliability but does not affect the difficulty of PA tasks. Moreover, the cognitive complexity of both the task prompt and the rubric aspect significantly impacts the difficulty of PA tasks based on Bloom's taxonomy but not Webb's DOK, and this effect is slightly stronger for the rubric aspect than the task prompt. Discussion centers on how these findings can be used to better inform and improve PA task writing and review procedures for assessment developers as well as customize PAs (their difficulty levels) to different course levels or individual students to improve learning.

The advent of COVID-19 and subsequent social disruption has exacerbated existing nursing workforce shortages. As nursing education programs and healthcare providers struggle to meet the care needs of their respective communities, the ever-present challenge of replenishing nursing candidates persists—particularly when those candidates face financial hardships to complete their education. In an effort to mitigate financial hardships, competency-based education (CBE) nursing offers the opportunity for students to self-pace their learning and potentially complete their education more quickly. In addition to CBE programs typically being more affordable that traditional “seat time” credit-based programs, students can potentially yield even more significant savings. Therefore, considering some healthcare providers, accreditors, and candidates may be concerned with CBE program quality, this study assesses the merit of that assertion. Through a comparative of analysis of Western Governors University's (WGU) CBE Nursing Program to similar traditional education state nursing programs, this research finds that CBE nursing programs can reduce cost while maintaining or even improving program quality by a measure of NCLEX pass rates.

Imagine this: The owner of a Boston-based computer gaming company needs a Python-savvy programmer to develop a new game. Melina is a self-taught programmer living in Somerville, just outside the city, who was recently laid off because of the pandemic. Melina would be an ideal candidate for the position, but she chooses not to apply because the job description specifies that a computer science degree is required. Melina had started her degree a few years earlier but had to drop out because balancing her full-time job, raising a child, and going to school on a rigid schedule was untenable. Melina had continued to learn on her own, but never obtained the degree to show for it.

Unfortunately, variations of this story are repeated every day. The unemployed programmer, project manager, or sales associate can do the job that an employer is trying to fill, but the employer inadvertently closes off that option in the job description by requiring a degree.

This focus on degrees as hiring criteria hurts many jobseekers but hits underrepresented communities especially hard:

Degrees have historically been the currency of the education-to-work continuum, serving as shorthand for competence and functioning as gatekeeping mechanisms for higher-status education and employment. We are not arguing that degrees do not matter, but we are promoting the design of alternative approaches that can also function as bridges to attaining a degree or demonstrating competence.

Put simply, people with competencies need jobs, but are hampered by a perceived need for degrees to obtain those jobs. It is our responsibility as educators and advocates to elevate and scale CBE as a solution to this challenge.

There is an urgency to this matter because of a growing bifurcation of access to education and opportunity between white, affluent students, and those from low socioeconomic backgrounds and people of color, especially Black and Latinx students. Research from the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce reveals that Black Americans are steered toward majors and career paths leading to low-paying jobs. Even when entering high-paying fields, Black students often pursue the lower-paying majors within them. For example, a higher representation of Black female students entering a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) program choose biology, the lowest-paying science major. In contrast, white students and those of higher economic status often enter into longer-term degree programs with greater overall economic value (Carnevale et al., 2016).

In a 2020 article, Carnevale asserted the following:

The divide Carnevale pointed to must be addressed in ways that make the bachelor's degree—and those higher-paying majors and jobs—accessible to all. Any new educational and funding policies should avoid sending a message to certain learners that the baccalaureate degree is “not for you, but we have somethin

The twin pandemics of health and racial inequality have upended life as we know it-- causing additional strain on a public education sector that has historically done a poor job meeting the needs of students who are Black, Latinx, or economically disadvantaged. In some instances, schools and school systems seem to have navigated the challenges to make needed changes that meet the moment—which is laudable. Many more are merely doing what they can considering the circumstances. They are treading water and making the best of a bad situation. At the very least, this past year should have provided those who have the authority, both the wisdom and courage to reconsider educational choices, practices, and policies which no longer serve students—and more truthfully– have never served a subset of young people well. While much could be reconsidered, I propose that changes to the high school curriculum and graduation requirements should take priority despite recent nationwide improvements in high school graduation rates.

What I am proposing is a competency-based curriculum for high school students to exhibit mastery of the four core curricular areas. . Students would simultaneously participate in high-quality apprenticeships and other rich work-based learning experiences that will ultimately yield not only a high school diploma but will also micro credentials and/or certifications which validate mastery of cognitive and technical skills in the fields of their choice. We must find new ways of educating and engaging secondary students so they can successfully jumpstart careers in business and industry with the skills that employers and colleges say are desperately needed. For years employers have bemoaned a critical “skills gap”. And while there has been controversy regarding the veracity of these claims, what is not in doubt is that there is a need for more workers skilled in new and emerging technologies (Bessen, 2014; Engler et al., 2018). Deloitte’ and the Manufacturing Institute's 2018 skills gap in manufacturing study projected “2.4 million positions unfilled between 2018 and 2028, with a potential economic impact of 2.5 trillion” (Giffi et al.,2018, p. 2). Additionally, research by Carnevale and Smith (2013) delineates that five of the top ten cognitive competencies in high demand across all occupational groups include: (a) communication, (b) teamwork, (c) sales and customer service, (d) leadership, and (e) problem solving and complex thinking (Carnevale and Smith, 2013, p.43). Without a rich and rigorous curriculum providing these technical and soft skills, students will not have a pathway beyond minimal wage offerings.

Prior to the current crisis, there had been some good news regarding high school graduation rates in public schools over the past few years. Nationally, the 2017–2018 school year graduation rate was 85% (NCES, 2020). Most recently, the percent

A Competency-Based Training Program—Education Competency—is designed to provide professional adult training for international educators who wish to advance or acquire new professional skills. It is an intensive training program intended for capacity building for people with an education and training background. Once a training topic is nominated, Assiut-Integrated Technical Education Cluster can source appropriate facilitators and design a suitable training solution to meet specified objectives and training modules. This program can be delivered in various formats, including workshops, seminars, school visits, case studies, coaching, and mentoring. One of the objectives of this advanced training is to know the German vocational training system and understand the related training-oriented training concepts.

As editors, we had excellent reasons to create a special edition on the future of learning and work long before the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world, leading to massive levels of death and unemployment that has unproportionally impacted Black, Latinx, and people of color.

As this introduction is written, the rationale seems even more compelling for a special issue focused on the role of competencies in workforce and economic recovery. The pandemic’s impact on society has revealed fissures in all of our social systems, but education stands out as especially fragile. In spite of monumental efforts toward improvement in the past several decades, our education infrastructure is simply not providing equitable, workforce-aligned, student-centered learning for too many of our Black, Latinx, people of color, and low-income students and workers. Many of us knew all about this failing before COVID-19, but now the awareness has spread to every household, school, occupation, and community.

As tragic as the onset of the virus has been, educators would be remiss if we did not take this opportunity to advocate for dramatic improvement. Unfortunately, social system transformation rarely happens in good times; usually when the old ways clearly become dysfunctional are people willing to consider alternatives.

The alternatives are there and have been for many years: Competency-based education (CBE) offers a path to better, more fair pedagogy and careers with value for more learners—but only if educators and employers come together to implement them.

Several common themes are interwoven throughout the issue. Assessing the pandemic’s impact is, of course, necessary and unavoidable. It is a unique historical event in which the entire world has been simultaneously affected. However, it is also a familiar story in that different populations have suffered in unequal ways. Linked to this fact, and not surprisingly, a concern for equity presents itself in almost every article. The uneven impact of COVID-19 has illuminated class and racial divides that can no longer be ignored. Unlike the virus, equity has been all too easy to overlook for many with more privileged race and economic backgrounds. Now, however, it shouts for attention.

A long-standing challenge makes yet another appearance in these pages: Close collaboration between educators and employers emerges as perhaps the missing piece of the entire puzzle. We must create clearly defined pathways from the classroom to the workplace (in person or virtual), and learners must know how to follow them to a job or career.

Educators can “buy into” the CBE mindset and make dramatic changes in their programs, but if there are no good jobs at the “end of that rainbow,” the whole effort, time, and expense will be for naught. Learners and workers who are already in despair over their situations will grow ever more cynical about the system’s concern (or lack thereof) for them.

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