Competency Based Teaching
Competency-Based Teaching
A couple of years into my teaching, I was introduced to an idea called digital badging. I went to professional development and was explained the idea of something like this. Digital badging is a way to develop skills in the classroom and give students digital rewards for it. You could also set up certain tasks for them to complete, which would earn them a badge.
A colleague and I started discussing the idea of using this in our class to present content and allow students autonomy when deciding what topic to learn next. We also thought this could be an easy way to blend content with skills. Students could get grades for conducting an experiment and following the procedure precisely, as an example. We asked the person conducting the professional development if this was possible, but the answer was vague. They said you could set the badges up however you wanted, but couldn't link the badges in any way. This meant a student could get a badge for experimenting only, but we wanted badges for every step also. That way students could see if they missed something or needed to go back, and we wanted them to connect. A badge for specific tasks throughout the day, and each day that would end in a specific badge. Then each unit would have its badges. But this was not possible through the system we were shown.
We did not let this idea go; instead, as evaluation season came, we came across another great idea that matched what we were trying to do. The evaluation system for teachers worked like this.
Each category had tasks that you as the teacher were supposed to incorporate in your class and be able to show upon observation by the administrator or through additional pieces of evidence if not seen during the observation. You had to prove you were doing each thing and you would get a check for doing it. When all the checkboxes were full, then you were at that level. Your highest level of completed checkboxes was a major portion of your evaluation. Our discussions led us to the idea of being able to blend the digital badging with our own evaluation system to create a class system that would allow students to understand why their grade was whatever it was and allow autonomy over when the assignments were completed.
There were problems in the evaluation system, like if you didn't do one checkbox in the approaching expectations section, then it did not matter if all of the above expectation boxes were checked. My colleague and I also could not agree what those tasks and how they should be worded, nor how we would present this to students.
I began to work on my own system. I researched a lot for other teachers trying to do a similar style of classroom instruction and found that what I wanted to do is called Competency-Based Instruction. Competency-based instruction is developing certain tasks like a to-do list, and when the tasks are complete, then a project is complete. A rubric is used to give the grades, and then a new unit starts. Each task is a step on the rubric. By completing each step, the student moves higher and higher on the rubric, meaning their grade increases with increasing difficulty of tasks.
This was exactly what I was looking for and decided to make my own. I developed a checklist similar to the one above. I spread across the top, the grades that each column will receive. Next to each checkbox is a specific goal like a daily goal. Each goal is hyperlinked to an assignment. The checkboxes are clickable, so when a student completes that task, they click the button. As the checkboxes fill in each column then that is their grade. I make simple DOK level 1 assignments with basic concepts and tasks with the lowest grade. I make the next column with higher DOK-level assignments with more complex tasks. There are many checkboxes in the first column but only a few in the last. This is because the tasks in the first column are simple, and the tasks in the last column take many days to complete with a higher level of thinking. As long as a student has the majority of the checkboxes in a column, then I let them have the grade that goes with that column, unlike my teacher evaluation system. I do not think it is fair that a student shows their knowledge at a high level, but is not given this recognition due to incomplete tasks. A person does not have to do 100% of the assignments in my class to have the highest grade possible. As long as the student has completed the required boxes in the first coloumn, then they have a passing grade for this unit, regardless if they complete the higher-level tasks. This is very different than a traditional class that averages assignments together.
I do not allow extra credit, because I feel if a student wants a certain grade then they know how to earn that grade by completing those checkboxes. Although I will do alternative assignments in specific situations to accommodate needs. If a student is absent, then they know automatically what assignments to do. Students are also constantly aware of their grade and why their grade is that. It is easy to show evidence to anyone who asks; the students have completed these assignments and so have the grade in that column.
What does every unit need?
When starting out teaching, the school had various initiatives. Some were a focused on reading, others writing and others peer to peer discussions and modeling. I also had different administrators with different ideas of what would be successful. These changed each year and some units I would forget to do certain things, like allowing to make a hypothesis, or lecturing and summative assessments with out enough formative assessments along the way to make sure students actually knew the material without feelings of stress.
I decided to develop my own list of what I think every unit needs.
Hypothesis (Initial Pre-assessment of knowledge about the topic)
Talk to each other about their hypothesis, and allow for changes after talking.
Vocabulary needed for the unit (Content specific, Academic, and Conversational)
Reading (DOK level 1 is assessed through conversations with students)
Reading note catcher (Formative assessment)
Talk to each other about what they read. (Formative assessment)
Exit ticket (Summative assessment)
Lecture (assessed through verbal questions, given in small groups)
Notes (not assessed, for student use only, can always refer to them)
Worksheet or exit ticket 2 (This is practice of some idea we are working on and should be an application of the specific learning goal is summative assessment)
Video and questions (Formative assessment/Enrichment)
Model and/or experiment (Depending on topic a model can be used with an experiment or one can replace the other, but all units have this and it is a formative assessment that I can ask students and correct students as they are working)
Talk Students talk to each other about their experiment.
Assessment or Project and Report (Students' formal summative assessment is a choice. They can take a test if they prefer, or can make a project and write or orally give a report about their project.
Reflection - Students reflect on their initial hypothesis and reflect on what they have learned in the unit, as well as any problems they may have had, things they did well or many other reflection questions to engage their metacognition about their learning.
After I developed my list, I matched each with their DOK level of learning and attach different learning goals to each. These assignments are the pieces to every unit I teach, although I do sometimes change the order or add more practice depending on students' needs. These things allow me to intentionally monitor every student and alter any misconceptions students have. Although it is directly science connected, this system can be used for any subject.
Getting Started
If you are unsure of how to get started, then I would suggest
Decide every piece that you want in every unit. If reading is important then ensure you have a reading, if hypotheses are important make sure you have a space for students to create a hypothesis and can come back to them to reflect on their hypothesis.
Develop the end goal first.
Identify all the DOK level 1 learning needed for the goal. What pieces do they need to be able to identify?
Set all of these as the check boxes for the lowest grade.
Tasks in the second column should be DOK level 2 tasks. In this students should be summarizing or using whatever knowledge they learned in the first column of tasks.
The next column should be tasks explaining connections in the different smaller pieces, and identifying the main ideas which are a combination of the crosscutting concept and disciplinary core idea.
Make sure the goal and last column of tasks are open-ended enough to allow students to develop their own ideas and express their knowledge however they can.
Make sure you have language and content learning goals as the name of each task.
Make sure all tasks are directly linked to the goal.
This system can be used with any subject, and with content goals or process skills. Some people can use this for equations and themes of stories, or reading a graduated cylinder to learn density. It is very adaptable. I will always use this type of education, even if I no longer have computer access for students. I will print off checklists like these and set up all units or assignments in a competency style of teaching. I believe in this style of teaching a great amount of bias and subjectiveness can be removed. I currently set up each one around a specific standard. It has also streamlined my planning. I no longer have to plan every day, but instead 3 or 4 hours of planning sets me up for about 4-6 weeks of class time. It frees me up for more one on one talks and assessments and individual feedback, and I rarely take work home.