Aurora Institute’s annual conference is the industry’s leading event shaping the future of K-12 education. Experts, practitioners, educators, policymakers and researchers gather and work to transform education.
The following is an excerpted transcript of the State of the Field address, delivered on October 28th at the 2019 Symposium by Aurora Institute President and CEO Susan Patrick. In the address, Susan shares global trends in education, key features of new innovative school models, updates to the definition of competency-based education (CBE), and the […]
Which states lead in helping districts and schools create more personalized learning for students? This is a frequent question we are asked by state policymakers. Although there are different state policy entry points for this work, the examples below illustrate some of the state policy strategies that support personalized learning approaches and competency-based education systems, […]
In new models of teaching and learning, assessing what students know and can do looks very different from the traditional model of education. In the latest episode of our new podcast series, Innovation Spotlight, iNACOL Vice President for Federal and State Policy Maria Worthen and Policy Associate Alexis Chambers recently discussed challenges and opportunities to […]
This is the sixth vlog in a series sharing highlights from keynote addresses that will focus on current events and themes in education. This video features the topic of the learning sciences. Bror Saxberg, Vice President of the Learning Sciences at Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, discusses cognition and how education should aim to get both […]
I think that one can argue that every school, whether it is a traditional school or a personalized, competency-based one, should have processes for continuous improvement in place. It only makes sense that any organization should be in the process of improving. However, traditional schools and school systems are highly bureaucratic in nature. The emphasis […]
This post first appeared on CompetencyWorks on December 20, 2018. Competency-based education believes that all students, with the right supports, can learn. Similarly, advocates of competency-based education believe that all educators, with the rights supports, can learn the skills needed to help each and every student to learn. Personalized, competency-based education is rooted in the […]
Last week, the College Board announced the Environmental Context Dashboard, a new tool to support admissions decisions with a composite score to accompany SAT results that could provide admissions officers with more information about students’ educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. Quickly dubbed the “Adversity Score,” the announcement set off wide-ranging debates in education circles, notably at […]
States and school districts around the nation are advancing policies to support the shift toward student-centered education models with personalized, competency-based learning. iNACOL is frequently asked to offer guidance on how to fund the initiatives and structures that support this transformation, and to that end, we released State Funding Strategies to Support Education Innovation. The […]
As states, districts and schools around the nation begin redesigning education systems that to better support students to thrive in the future, they are naturally operating in different landscapes to launch their work from different entry points. One issue that several states contend with is how to fund their transformation efforts. In our recent issue […]
This blog provides some reflections on the 2018 midterm elections, with three takeaways for transforming education: educator voices were multiplied; representation matters; and the new pluralism in Congress will reinvigorate education debates. At iNACOL, our mission is to drive the transformation of education systems and accelerate the advancement of breakthrough policies and practices to ensure […]