Competency-based, Performance-based, Direct-assessment: What’s in a Name?

Beth Castiglia, Ph. D.Dean, Larry L. Luing School of Business, Berkeley College

Conceptual FrameworkInnovation

Drivers

◦ Disruptive innovation

◦ Mass customization

◦ Consumer mentality

Implications of “breaking the credit hour”

◦Workload◦Units of learning

◦Resource allocation

◦Salary structures

◦Financial aid◦Transfer policies

◦Degree definitions

How we got here

Cost of higher education

◦Increase of 429% over past two decades

◦Cost disease◦Competitive arms race◦Inability to leverage technology

Changing student population

Nontraditional is the new traditional

1 in 5 people in the US have some college credit but no degree

80% of US institutions are nonselective

Slow pace of changeHow much difference is a

classroom today from one 70 years ago?

◦Single faculty member dispensing “knowledge”

◦Learning measured by completing a course

◦Students expect to spend approximately 4 years earning degrees

Higher Education in the PressGovernment regulators demand

accountability

2013 Obama’s domestic policy plan:

“…Consider value, affordability, and student outcomes in making determinations about which colleges and universities receive access to federal student aid…”

Change is coming.

But how will we get there?

Unbundling of InstructionWhat do colleges do?

◦Provide content knowledge

◦Help students develop skills

◦Provide socialization

◦Provide degrees from accredited institutions

Content knowledge Reformation similarities

Internet

Colleges and Universities do not have a monopoly on dispensing knowledge

Skills developmentTechnological enhancements

Scaffolding

Adaptive learning

Self-paced learning

Socialization--

Accreditation

Determines value of degree

Determines Title IV eligibility

Competency-based education became popularized when the Department of Education first allowed such programs to be accredited in Spring 2013.

Some distinctions

Competency-based

Performance-based

Direct assessment

Competency-based

Still “map” assessments to course equivalencies

Instead of measuring progress based on time, award credit based on demonstration of skills learned.

ExamplesWestern Governor’s University

University of Wisconsin Flexible Option

Northern Arizona University’s Personalized Learning

Performance-based

K-12 model initiated in the 1980s

Developed in response to early calls for accountability

Direct assessment

Federal definition: … “an instructional program that, in lieu of credit hours or clock hours as a measure of student learning, utilizes direct assessment of student learning, or recognizes the direct assessment of student learning by others.”

Examples

Southern New Hampshire University’s College for America

Capella University’s FlexPath program

Direct assessment programs feature:

No traditional coursesNo teaching professorsNo gradesNo deadlinesNo credit hour requirements

Landmarks in Direct Assessment

2005: Higher Education Reconciliation Act (HERA) opened the door for college’s to participate in federal financial aid programs by directly assessing student outcomes without consideration of time spent in a classroom

Landmarks in Direct Assessment

2006: Regulations published defining direct assessment and outlining the procedures and requirements for an institution that offers such programs to use Title IV funds

Landmarks in Direct Assessment

July 31, 2014: DOE publishes Federal Register notice inviting institutions to apply to participate in one or more of four experiments under the Department’s “Experimental Sites Initiative”

Landmarks in Direct AssessmentDecember 19, 2014: DOE

publishes a follow up letter:

◦Subject: Competency Based Education Programs – Questions and Answers

◦ “We have received numerous questions regarding the requirements of providing Title IV, HEA student assistance to students enrolled in competency based educational programs”

Questions addressed

What makes a CBE program different from traditional academic programs?

Are there differences between credit hour CBE and direct assessment programs?

An example: College for America(Southern New Hampshire University)

No courses120 competencies defined by rubricsMastery demonstrated by completion

of tasks that are assessed by faculty reviewers

Students begin a competency at any level

$2,500/yearAccredited by NEASC

What all CBE programs have in common:

They provide the student with the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge.

Where we are

Lumina Foundation- Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN)

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Accreditation Issues

Accreditors faced with assessing learning in increasingly disaggregated and highly complex educational institutions.

Accreditors need to think about their relationship with innovation.

Further questionsShould there be multiple levels of

accreditation for institutions, programs, courses, competencies…?

Might there ultimately be two paths to accreditation: the traditional institutional one and the CBE one?

ConclusionCompetency-based education

tied to credit hours is (relatively) easy to understand by both insiders and the public.

Direct assessment is much more difficult (albeit “purer”) to sell on campus – and to the DOE and accreditors.

Questions?