Thursday, June 18, 2015

Defining Competency - Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed

The Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions, which represents the seven regional accreditors, has issued a common framework for how to assess and approve competency-based programs. The Education Department followed with a letter to accreditors that echoes many of the same points. The department's letter also described requirements for a meaningful faculty role in competency-based education, including students' ability to interact directly with instructors. “It’s designed to provide clarity for our institutions,” Barbara Brittingham, president of the higher education commission of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and chair of C-RAC, said of the accreditors’ four-page guidance document. Both the feds and regional accreditors included some basic definitions about competency-based education. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/17/new-letters-us-and-accreditors-provide-framework-approval-competency-based-degrees