None of these schools, however, have had the same success as new entrants in the market. Charter Oak State College, Excelsior College, and Thomas Edison State University have all publicly announced that they are developing programs, and are all members of the Lumina-funded Competency-Based Education Network, aimed at developing common standards and design principles for modern CBE. Seemingly then, it comes as no surprise that all of these early innovators have been experimenting with the more modern version of CBE. It does not matter where a student learned something, as long as they can demonstrate it. While the methods and tools of measuring college-level learning may have grown in sophistication since then, the core principles remain the same. And in response to the public's outcry for accountability, educators are once again turning towards a model that values outcomes and authentic demonstrations – a model known as competency-based education (CBE).Īs Competency-Based Education has come back into style among educators, many authors point to the FIPSE-funded college-completion schools from the 1970s as the first wave of innovators (Thackaberry, 2016). Once again students, parents, and policymakers wonder if students are being adequately served by the existing institutions. According to a 2016 study done by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as many as 45% of recent college graduates are employed in a role that does not require a college degree (Abel and Deitz, 2016). Even the successful completion of a college degree no longer offers the same opportunities in the workforce. While enrollments surged throughout the Great Recession, so did the cost of tuition, causing many to question whether the increasing cost of a college degree reflected its value. What made these schools unique was their focus on student outcomes, rather than seat time, and their willingness to accept authentic demonstrations of competencies as a proxy for learning.įast forward 45 years, and higher education in the United States is at a similar point of uncertainty. SUNY Empire State College, Regents College (now Excelsior), and Charter Oak State College all have similar origins, and emerged from the same college access and completion agenda. Thomas Edison State College (TESC) was one of a handful of schools founded in the early 1970's and assisted by FIPSE with the goal of providing access to higher education for adult students. In response, the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) was created by Congress in 1972 and empowered to provide funding for unique institutions to try new modalities that would better serve non-traditional populations (Smith et al., 2002). Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) between 19, called for reforms to address issues related to access and affordability. Despite this increase in the attendance, there was a growing concern that students – especially non-traditional students – were not being adequately served. With the passage of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as well as the baby boom and the civil rights movement, college enrollments swelled throughout the country. The late 1960's and early 1970's were a time of dramatic change and upheaval for higher education in the United States. KEY WORDS: competency-based education, new models, adult education, Thomas Edison State University
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