Thanks to a law signed last year, Nevada’s school districts and charter schools may now participate in a groundbreaking new pilot program to utilize competency-based education.  They must first submit an application to the Nevada Department of Education before the deadline on April 11, 2018. Details and the application are available here.

Nevada defines Competency-Based Education as “A system of instruction by which a pupil advances to a higher level of learning when the pupil demonstrates mastery of a concept or skill, regardless of the time, place or pace at which the pupil progresses.”

So in other words, mastery of specific academic content, and not just the 100-year-old system of meeting seat-time requirements, can become the measure of when a student is ready to move on to the next lesson — an important step for schools looking to personalize teaching and learning for all students.

The pilot, which remains unfunded, represents an important opportunity for Nevada schools.  Feel free to reach out to me at don<at>nevadaaction.org if you’re interested in learning more about personalized learning or competency-based education.

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