The Chagrin Falls Exempted Village School District, along with one other Ohio public school district and 3 Educational Service Centers across the state, has been awarded a grant which will maximize potential and personalize learning for all students.
Competency-based education is a system of academic instruction, assessment, grading and reporting where students receive credit, not as a function of how much time they spend studying a subject, but based on demonstrations and assessments of their learning.
The Competency-Based Education Pilot, established by the 131st General Assembly in Amended Substitute House Bill 64, awards grants for the planning and implementation of competency-based programs. Each grant winner will receive $400,000 to implement its programs by the start of the 2016-2017 school year through 2019.
The Ohio Department of Education’s Competency-Based Education Pilot is designed to:
- Promote innovative learning that has meaning to students, cuts across multiple curriculum areas, and extends outside of the classroom
- Advance students to higher-level work once they demonstrate mastery of competencies, rather than advancing based on seat time in the classroom
- Give supports to struggling students before they advance and prevent further failure down the road
- Keep all students on pace to graduate and ensure those below level make rapid progress
- Graduate students with deeper college and career ready skills
- Inform future development of statewide competency-based policies and programs
Award winners are required to partner with a postsecondary institution and local businesses or community partners. The selected pilots will serve as models for future competency-based education programs.
The REALIZE U Project proposal was crafted to enhance existing efforts within the Chagrin Falls Exempted Village School District to maximize the individual potential of all 2,010 enrolled students. Students will show growth and competency through personalized and flexible learning experiences.
The pilot will identify locally-created and nationally-standardized measures to illustrate student growth and competency for all courses in kindergarten through grade 12, by the 2016-2017 school year. It will expand the existing use of standards-based grading practices for all classes in all grades by the 2017-2018 school year.
The pilot also will grow the capacity of teachers. It will provide opportunities for identified secondary teachers to achieve College Credit Plus credentialing through funded online graduate coursework in the areas of Math, English, Government and History.
Through partnerships with Hiram College and Ashland University, the district will have the potential to increase College Credit Plus course offerings available for students in grades 7-12 within the next two years. Additional teachers will also be able to access AP course training via the CollegeBoard to grow AP offerings and refine the courses which precede them. Identified classroom teachers in kindergarten through grade 12 will have opportunities to take funded graduate coursework to attain their Gifted Endorsement, earn special education licensure, and/or gain a Reading Endorsement.
Identified Special Education teachers will be able to access graduate coursework in content area(s) to enhance their ability to support and grow student competency across disciplines. The pilot will develop summer programming to help identified students move into more rigorous levels of content in the upcoming school year. It also will create mentorships within the community and interest-based study through enrichment programming for students, beginning in summer 2016.
By the 2017-2018 school year, all students will create a personalized capstone project portfolio to showcase mastery of content and skills in grades 3, 6, 8 and 12. Each portfolio will illustrate the student’s distinct competencies.
The Competency Based Education pilot districts will serve as models for future competency-based education programs. “This project complements our intended pursuit of an ODE Testing Waiver. This funding will grow our capacity and support work which will be truly meaningful to our students and staff,” said Director of Curriculum Becky Quinn.
Chagrin Falls Superintendent Robert Hunt agreed, “We are thrilled to move forward with this work, as it will strengthen and accelerate our efforts to personalize learning and maximize the potential of all students!”
