Resources

Competency-Based Learning

Bridging German and U.S. Apprenticeship Models

The Role of Intermediaries

Aug. 13, 2021

Apprenticeship is an important workforce development strategy in Germany and is growing in prominence in the United States. Intermediaries, or organizations that facilitate the successful implementation of apprenticeship with employers and apprentices, help ensure a successful and high-quality experience in both countries’ systems. This brief from the Urban Institute compares the German and US apprenticeship…

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Competency-Based Learning

Make It Count

Recognizing Prior Learning for Workforce Development

March 11, 2020

This issue brief serves as a primer on past and current developments in prior learning assessments (PLA), including how the strategy can help students bridge workforce and academic competencies, and how it can be incorporated into strategies for workforce development. In the first section, we introduce past and current developments in PLAs. In the second,…

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Competency-Based Learning

Standardized Components for a Competency-Based Educational Record

Competency-based education network collaborator workgroups

Sept. 2, 2019

Higher education today may be under more scrutiny than ever before. As a greater share of the United State and Canadian population attend post-secondary education, holding a credential or having some higher education experience is no longer rare nor necessarily indicative of qualification as it was 50 years ago. Additionally, as costs have outpaced family…

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Competency-Based Learning

Learning Frameworks: Tools for Building a Better Educational Experience

Tools for Building a Better Educational Experience

June 19, 2019

Learning frameworks are tools that specify learning outcomes and/or competencies that define, classify, and recognize educational, learner, and industry expectations of knowledge, skills, and abilities at increasing levels of complexity and difficulty. They are not standards, and they are not limited to academia, but they do allow for alignment, translation, and mapping of learning through…

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Competency-Based Learning

Moving From the Legacy Student Hour Toward a Comprehensive Measure of Student Learning

Examining Benefits of a Competency-Based Taxonomy of Learning

May 30, 2019

This publication examines current challenges with the articulation of learning and argues that a new means of articulating learning is necessary. Specifically, drawbacks and inefficiencies developed to accommodate the credit hour measure of student learning are examined. As an alternative, a new competency-based measure of learning is proposed.

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Competency-Based Learning

The Learner Revolution: How Colleges Can Thrive in a New Skills and Competencies Marketplace

Reflections from five years of applied human-centered design at 100+ institutions

March 14, 2019

This paper incorporates insights from five years of the Education Design Lab’s work with a goal of helping institutional leaders learn from the experiences of their peers. It is designed to support “intrapreneurs” who embrace a mindset shift as the relationship changes between buyers and sellers of postsecondary learning.

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Competency-Based Learning

National Survey of Competency-Based Education

State of the Field report, Findings from the 2018 survey

Jan. 23, 2019

More colleges and universities view competency-based education (CBE) programs as a model to serve nontraditional students and improve workforce readiness, according to this report from the American Institutes for Research.

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Competency-Based Learning

Developing an Open, Public-Private Data Infrastructure for the Talent Marketplace

T3 Innovation Network Phase 1 Report

Oct. 29, 2018

This report summarizes and brings to a close phase one of the T3 Network. The report is divided into two parts. Part I focuses on the T3 Network’s vision, guiding principles, and profiles the work groups. Part II highlights the T3 Network’s recommendations, organized as a list of pilot projects that together provide the foundation…

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Competency-Based Learning

Next-Generation CBE

Solving the Four Big Problems Facing CBE for Underprepared College Learners

June 1, 2018

A series of reports from Jobs for the Future examines how competency-based education (CBE) can be adapted to meet the needs of underprepared adult learners and help them earn college credentials to advance in today’s workforce.

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Competency-Based Learning

How Competency-Based Education May Help Reduce Our Nation’s Toughest Inequities

Nov. 8, 2017

This paper considers how CBE can be used to educate, equip, and empower learners who struggle in postsecondary learning programs because of who they are and where they live. Recommended starting points—places and programs—are provided throughout the paper to highlight where and how CBE providers can prioritize equity.

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