A Review of Recent Research

Module 9 – Unit 2 – Activity

The need for equitable education for learners in a diverse, globalized communities has lead educators and education researchers to consider competency education as a possible solution.

The study Competency Education Implementation: Examining the Influence of Contextual Forces in Three New Hampshire Secondary Schools, by
Torres, Brett, Cox, & Greller (2018), claims, “Competency-based and other student-centered approaches to learning are gaining increasing interest.”

This premise is based on the belief that competency education encourages mistakes as learning opportunities, establishes intrinsic motivation for learning, and emphasizes assessment measures for higher order learning. However, the implementation of the approach is described as a “massive undertaking,” and the buy in from administrators, teachers, students, and families is considered tedious.

This research attempts to examine the influence of contextual forces in implementing competency education in three New Hampshire Secondary Schools by defining and mapping the various forces of change to the “descriptive framework of the zone of mediation.”

The Purpose of the Research

Using qualitative approaches, the researchers have tried to define and assess how competencies can guide

• instruction
• assessment
• grading

The purpose of the research is to, “explore implementation of competency education in secondary schools that have been working to adopt the reform for at least 3 years.” This is mostly accomplished by using the framework of the zone of mediation, or the change initiatives or forces that influence change, as defined by the framework. The forces, either direct and indirect, can be local, regional, national or even, global factors that affect schools and how they implement reform.

The scope of the research is limited to the 3 schools identified to fit their criteria. It was also limited to mapping the implementation to the four forces identified by K.G. Welner in his book, Legal Rights, Local Wrongs: When Community Control Collides with Educational Equity: Inertial forces, Technical forces, Normative forces, and Political forces.

Inertial forces were identified as the habits, customs, and routines that define school ethos. Technical forces were those that define an organizational structure, like scheduling, curriculum, resources, and materials. Normative forces are the implicit beliefs, customs, values and concepts that affect learning. Finally, political forces are policies and legal structures at the state, district, or family levels.

Method and Sample for the Study

The study uses qualitative, multiple case study design and purposive, reputational case sampling.

In 2005, the state of New Hampshire became the first state to revise their Regulation Education 306  (Ed 306) – The Minimum Standards for Public School Approval – to abolish the time-based Carnegie unit (120 hrs per year of contact with instructor in secondary education) to a competency-based system that would award credits based on student mastery of the competencies: key concepts, knowledge and skills. (Freeland, 2014).

At the time of the study, the researchers used industry experts to identify schools that offered “potential for learning” and not just “representativeness.” 16 districts met the criterion on the first round of intensity sampling. The second round considered districts that had implemented competency education for at least three years in secondary level. By using purposive sampling method, the researchers were able to, “identify three districts that represented a range of community factors deemed important in the zone-of-mediation framework: size, socioeconomic status, and relationship between community and school.

Finally, at each of the sample sites the researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 individuals and focus groups, including, administrators, principals, lead teachers, students, families, and school board members.

In addition, documents such as handbooks, assignments, assessments, school board policy, description of units, report card templates, and list of competencies for each course were collected and analyzed.

Results and Conclusions

Researchers used iterative coding process which included inductive data analysis to identify important finding, as well as, deductive analysis with a set of priori codes. The results were then compared to the zone of mediation theoretical framework in a deductive process.

Here is a summary of the results:

• In switching to competency education, the districts had first defined “competencies for each secondary course and had made progress aligning instruction, assessment, and grades to those competencies.

• A technical obstacle was finding the time for teachers to define and refine the competencies and create instruction, assessment and grades to suit the competencies. Districts used federal, local and grant money to pay teachers during the summer months and school year to enable the switch. Professional development was included as a response to teachers asking for help in understanding and creating assessments and grading. As the researchers noted, “the emphasis was giving teachers time to do the work, treating them as professionals.”

• A question posed by all stakeholders at some point was the idea of fairness. Teachers, students, and family members who were interviewed shared initial apprehensions towards allowing all students to reassess or retest for a better grade. It seemed unfair to those who worked hard the first time around to get their much deserved grade. Changing the ethos of the school and community required periodic meetings, setting up of student committees, and administrative committees that were responsible for answering questions and introducing these new concepts to their families and peers.

Implication for Practice: Competency education with an emphasis on mastery and learning, is supposed to foster self-regulation, growth mindset, and post-secondary readiness. The research team concluded that if the implementation of competencies, teaching, testing, and grading are not done “well,” it could lead to an increase in the achievement gap. For competency education to remain an equitable option, the implementation process must include the time, budget, and training  options. Involving teachers as partners and keeping stakeholders informed is a huge part of the implementation process.

Implication for Policy: Researchers found that a ground-up instead of top-down approach is best suited when creating local policies on competency education. The lack of common language, and the lack of conceptual clarity pose challenges to national, state or district level policy mandates. Shifting the zone of mediation from traditional outcomes to competency based outcomes is difficult. The researchers recommend, “having a compelling message.”

Implication for Research: Two areas of research recommended were:

1. Does competency education improve student outcomes and result in greater educational equity?
2. How to define the best student? Shifting the zone of mediation from grade-focused communities to obtain a buy-in for competency education.

Thoughts on quality of the study and the importance of the findings

Beginning with the framework chosen for the mapping process, the researchers defined their goal and scope clearly. The intensity of the selection criterion, and the iterative processes involved in creating and analyzing deductive and inductive data shows rigor in measures to achieve accuracy.

The research has created a qualitative study on the process of implementing competency education that understands the attitudes of various stakeholders is critical in creating policies, allocating budget, and identifying needs and key players.

Thoughts on research for my Capstone Project

As assessments and grading directly affects the ranking of students, there is a need to consider the mindset and shift required to change systems. Within my context in India, where traditional systems such as summatives often dictating the promotion to the next grade, and where national policies prevent holding back students till 8th grade, there is an urgent need to ensure equity in education. The findings of this research on empowering teachers first and including budgets and time to ensure teacher preparedness weighs heavily on creating equitable educational opportunities.

For my capstone project, I am interested in a qualitative investigation of higher secondary (high school) teachers attitudes towards building equitable education by implementing changes in assessment processes from a traditional approach to a competency-based approach.

Reference

Torres, A.S., Brett, J., Cox, J., & Greller, S. (2018, June 15). Competency Education Implementation: Examining the Influence of Contextual Forces in Three New Hampshire Secondary Schools. Retrieved on 3/30/2019 form https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2332858418782883

Freeland, J. (2014, May). From Policy to Practice: How Competency-Based Education is Evolving in New Hampshire.Retrieved on 3/30/2019 from https://www.christenseninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/From-policy-to-practice.pdf

New Hampshire Department of Education: https://www.education.nh.gov/assessment-systems/pace.htm