Using time to enable success in teaching and learning is a critical part of every school's, district's and state's journey to success. It seems that there is never enough time in schools, and leaders struggle to make the most of what they have. How best to use this precious resource is a critical question. While time in isolation from other…

Student success is increasingly tied to equity-minded policies and practices that ameliorate postsecondary achievement gaps. Educational disruptions over the past few years continue to reshape the education landscape and have continued to illuminate racial and socioeconomic inequities at higher education institutions, deepening the digital divide…

This topic brief is one in a series on personalized learning prepared for Conversations with Innovators, 2018. Historically, the configuration of public education has been antithetical to variation for and across learners. The structure and process of today's educational system, having cut its teeth during the industrial revolution, emphasizes…

Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) skills are receiving increased attention in the current workforce and in lifelong learning. In learning and labor contexts, successful teamwork is however not always guaranteed, due to several reasons, such as an unequal level of individual participation. Training in CPS for all groups is therefore needed.…

States are grappling with policy strategies to determine attendance in the era of COVID-19 school closures and remote learning. Allowing districts and schools to develop an attendance policy using a combination of options to determine attendance can offer maximum flexibility. These options include, but are not limited to: (1) time on task (task…

In partnership with the ECMC Foundation, Jobs for the Future is leading an effort to explore how postsecondary competency-based education models can be adapted to better serve underprepared adult learners. JFF kicked off this initiative with a convening of educators, policymakers, and researchers, the results of which are captured in this paper.…

There is growing consensus in Latin America on the necessity to reorganize the degree profiles in a competence-based and student-centred system, with identified learning outcomes, innovative learning and teaching strategies, and new methodologies for assessing competences which could be useful for students. There is also agreement on the need to…

The instructional delivery system of traditional school practice consists of fixed time, single opportunities for learning a vague-referenced, variable, and private curriculum. While a minimum competency testing program ensures that academic standards are criterion-referenced, fixed, and public, the time allotted for learning may still be fixed.…

The results of "Project Change in Liberal Education" (CLE), which was undertaken by 20 higher education institutions with support from 10 other institutions, are summarized. The project is an intensive effort to develop and evaluate alternatives to traditional patterns of teaching and learning in undergraduate liberal education. The CLE…

A project was undertaken at Kirkwood Community College to develop a full-time and part-time competency based program to educate water and wastewater treatment plant operators. First, a survey was conducted to identify the job tasks performed by the operators, their frequency, importance, and necessity. A questionnaire listing 651 tasks divided…

Based on an analysis of problems in Missouri's distributive education programs, labor market needs, and a literature review, this report introduces three models developed for area vocational-technical schools. Basic guidelines are suggested for specialized and performance-based programs. The performance-based programs encompass the following…

This document contains materials about and from the School-to-Work for Lancaster County Adults program. This program was a special demonstration project designed to develop a school-to-work (STW) model for adult learners. In an alternative high school setting, the program combined academic instruction, career exploration and planning, and…