Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, February 19, 2016

Competency Based Education – UnitED For Florida Children

Competency Based Education – UnitED For Florida Children:

Competency Based Education

We don’t have time to play these games!
I can’t say you weren’t warned.
By Laura McCrary
Founder, United for FL Children
Parents, I Cannot Protect Your Children –    I will do my best. But my best isn’t good enough – and I think that is the point I really want to make here…”  ~ (Peggy Robertson)
I am going to be blunt here.  If parents don’t wake up and take a stand right now, this year, we will only have ourselves to blame.  Ask yourself this.  How do you see education in four to six years?  I can promise you it won’t be the friendly teacher driven classrooms we are seeing today.  Changes are being made from the top down right now as you are reading this, and it isn’t pretty.  It is called Competency Based Education (also known as Competency Based Learning, Outcome Based Education, Personalized Learning, and Performance Based Education to name a few).
In theory, the idea behind Competency Based Education (CBE) isn’t all bad.  According to the Kentucky Department of Education, CBE is “a method that focuses on mastering specific skills or standards rather than completing course work over a specific period of time.”  However, the people who are voting this in, did not take minorities, English Language Learners, and ESE students into account.   In fact ,they were not thinking about the children at all.  CBE is a corporate driven movement by a vast network of foundations, think tanks, and governmental groups.
The following excerpt was taken from Peter Greene’s blog Curmudgucation, titled Selling Competency Based Education:
“This was bad enough when it was the focus of a once-a-year Big Standardized Test. But look at what Pearson envisions as its “Balanced Assessment System.” Their system features six types of assessment, including formative of which they say “This happens every day!” Yes, it’s all assessment, all the time.”
Yes, that is daily testing they are talking about. And, we think the yearly tests are bad!
The achievement gap will grow tremendously, and the need for qualified teachers will come to an end. How do you feel about the primary teacher being a computer program, tracking your child’s progress on every standard all day long?  So, you say that can never happen?  We will always need teachers in the classroom, and a computer will never take over the teacher’s job.  Hmmm…
This article  states,
“Desperate school leaders are already having to turn to unqualified staff to take lessons. As the Competency Based Education – UnitED For Florida Children: