Competency Based Education (7/20)

I am on a two-week vacation, driving cross-country with my wife to spend time with family in Seattle. In my absence, I have dug into the archives and pulled up some reruns for you. Though what I most suggest is that you check out the blogroll on the right side of the page. There are some outstanding bloggers, and if there are some folks you've never sampled, there's no day like today.

It's poised to be the next big thing in education reform (even though it's a recycled old thing from twenty years ago.

What's So Bad About Competency Based Education?

Competency Based Education (or Proficiency Based Learning or Outcome Based Education) is the new rage, or perhaps the long-simmering pot that is currently coming to boil. Reformsters have shifted emphasis to it, and opponents have become increasingly vocal about it. Casual observers can be forgiven for getting the impression that reform opponents are just reflexively objecting to whatever reformsters like. If Bill Gates ate a cheese sandwich, would some of us be leading a "Keep cheese out of our schools" movement?

After all, is CBE really all that radical or different?

CBE: An Exemplar School

When fans want to show how awesome CBE can be, they head to Alaska.

Defining Competency Based Education

What is it supposed to be, exactly?

Selling Competency Based Education

Here's an example of the sort of sales pitch we're going to be getting, and why it's bunk.

Remember Outcome Based Education?

Twenty years ago we were all getting ready to do something that is suspiciously CBE-like. Here's why it dies the first time around.

Can Competency Based Education Be Stopped?

I'm actually hopeful that CBE could be doomed. Here's where its fatal weaknesses are hiding.