Resources and Publications

Webinars

Making the Case for Competency-Based Education webinar series

The Making the Case for Competency-Based Education webinar series, produced by AIR in partnership with the Competency-Based Education Network is designed to support you in using data to demonstrate the value of CBE programs for students, campus leaders, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

Getting Started With Evaluation, considers the importance of conducting evaluation, provides guidelines for summative evaluation, and delves into findings of an early study on CBE student outcomes.

Module 1: Introduction – Provides an overview of the series, then considers the value of conducting evaluation.
Module 2: Getting Started with Evaluation – Serves as a guide for conducting summative evaluation to support measuring student outcomes and using those findings to make the case for CBE programs.
Module 3: Early Findings on CBE Programs’ Efficacy – Presents the results of an early study on CBE programs’ efficacy, looks at student outcome data from six CBE programs, and examines how those outcomes compare to students in non-CBE programs. Read the full report, On the Path to Success: Early Evidence About the Efficacy of Postsecondary Competency-Based Education Programs.

Evaluation for Improvement, covers the fundamentals of two continuous quality improvement models—root cause analysis and the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle—and how they apply to improvement within the context of CBE program.

Module 1: Introduction to "Evaluation for Improvement" - Provides an overview of the series, and then presents the basics of continuous quality improvement.
Module 2: Setting the Stage - Root Cause Analysis - Discusses root cause analysis, outlining some initial steps to take before diving into a plan-do-study-act, or PDSA, cycle on your campus.
Module 3: The Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycle - A step-by-step guide to implementing the PDSA cycle on your campus
Module 4: Embedding Continuous Quality Improvement in Your Processes - Offers advice for embedding continuous quality improvement in your processes, including defining those processes, measuring outputs and outcomes, and analyzing results.

Aligning for Learning - Evaluating Connections, presents the importance of alignment in relation to validity of learning and evaluation of program effectiveness, and explores implications for ways to address misunderstandings in the larger field of higher education around high quality CBE programs through communication of internal alignment.

Module 1: The Importance of Alignment in CBE - Provides an overview of the series, then discusses the importance of aligning competencies, learning activities, and assessments.
Module 2: A Guide to Internal Alignment - Walks through steps for using data to ensure that competencies, learning activities, assessments and evaluative criteria are well aligned, including tracing competencies throughout a program, using data to identify potential misalignment, and engaging in continuous quality improvement to address misalignment.
Module 3: A Guide to External Alignment - Presents steps for using data to ensure that competencies are aligned through programs to post-completion outcomes and employer requirements, including using data to make a case about CBE student performance and collaborating with employers.

Communicating Research Findings, explores ways in which you can effectively communicate evaluation findings and data to build support—or, make the case—for CBE.

Module 1: Introduction - Provides an overview of the series and a general introduction to communicating your research findings.
Module 2: Audience Analysis - Focuses on effectively identifying your audience and understanding how to tailor communications about data, research, or evaluation to specific audiences.
Module 3: Storytelling - Demonstrates using the power of narrative to further engage your audience.
Module 4: Data Visualization - Explores how to use visuals to present data in a way that’s more compelling and more easily digested by various audiences.

Publications

A Snapshot of Postsecondary Competency-Based Education Students

Who enrolls in postsecondary competency-based education (CBE)? Using data from programs in the CBE Student Outcomes Research Collaborative, we explore the demographic characteristics of postsecondary CBE students.

Measuring Student Success in Postsecondary Competency-Based Education Programs: Toward a Student Outcomes Metrics Framework

Drawing on other early research, the Framework articulates metrics that can be used across many CBE program types to build toward a common language about CBE students and outcomes. In addition, the brief articulates key challenges to that common language, calling for CBE program leaders and researchers to engage in field-wide conversations about addressing them.

Making the Case for Competency-Based Education: Early Lessons From the Field

This brief outlines seven considerations for CBE program leaders who want to begin gathering and using rigorous evidence as they build a case for CBE for internal and external audiences.

State of the Field: Findings from the 2018 National Survey of Postsecondary Competency-Based Education

This report is based on data obtained from the 2018 National Survey of Postsecondary Competency-Based Education (NSPCBE). It represents a collaborative effort between the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and Eduventures®, the research division of ACT™ | NRCCUA™. It includes findings based on responses by more than 500 colleges and universities—the largest institutional sample to date—about their interest in, or activity related to, competency-based education (CBE). It also compares findings to those of Eduventures’ 2016 CBE study, Deconstructing CBE.

On the Path to Success

Broadly, this brief presents evidence that CBE programs are on the path to success in fulfilling their value propositions of broadening access, offering paths to credentials, and improving cost and quality. In the brief, we offer early findings and outline the key challenges related to data and measurement in CBE contexts.

State of the Field: Postsecondary CBE in the US

This infographic illustrates data obtained from the 2018 National Survey of Postsecondary Competency-Based Education (NSPCBE). It is a brief summary of early findings based on responses by more than 500 colleges and universities—the largest institutional sample to date—about their interest in, or activity related to, competency-based education (CBE).

State of the Field: Postsecondary CBE in the US in 2019

This infographic provides a brief summary of findings from the 2019 National Survey of Postsecondary Competency-Based Education (NSPCBE). This survey – the second in a series of three – indicates that CBE is experiencing slow but steady growth nationally, and institutions remain optimistic about future growth despite persistent barriers.

State of the Field: Findings from the 2019 National Survey of Postsecondary Competency-Based Education

This report is based on data obtained from the 2019 National Survey of Postsecondary Competency-Based Education (NSPCBE). It includes findings based on responses by more than 600 colleges and universities—the largest institutional sample to date—about their interest in, or activity related to, CBE. This survey – the second in a series of three – indicates that CBE is experiencing slow but steady growth nationally, and institutions remain optimistic about future growth despite persistent barriers.

Improving Measures of Student Progression: Lessons for Postsecondary CBE Practitioners and Institutional Research Professionals

This resource, based on the work of the CBE Student Outcomes Research Collaborative, shares measures of student progression tailored to the flexible nature of CBE programs and the student populations they commonly serve. These metrics are designed primarily to equip program leaders, institutional researchers, and program faculty to examine students’ experiences and continuously improve their programs.

CBE and Learner Self-Direction

This brief summarizes findings from a recent exploratory study supported by the National Research Collaborative on Postsecondary Competency-Based Education and Learning at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) that investigated the capacity for students’ self-directed learning within a CBE program to cull insights into how a student-driven learning process can lead to changed outcomes.

NEW: State of the Field: Findings from the 2020 National Survey of Postsecondary Competency-Based Education

This report is based on data obtained from the 2020 National Survey of Postsecondary Competency-Based Education (NSPCBE). It includes findings based on responses from 488 colleges and universities about their interest in, or activity related to, CBE. This survey – the third in a series of three – find that, despite disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is continued optimism about CBE's potential to grow in the future.

NEW: State of the Field: Postsecondary CBE in the US in 2020

This infographic provides a brief summary of findings from the 2020 National Survey of Postsecondary Competency-Based Education (NSPCBE). This survey – the third in a series of three – finds that, despite disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is continued optimism about CBE's potential to grow in the future.

NEW: Social Media Toolkit: NSPCBE 2020

This social media toolkit contains ready-to-use messages and images that you can post on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter if you’d like to share findings from the 2020 National Survey of Postsecondary Competency-Based Education (NSPCBE) with your colleagues or networks.

Tools

Key Characteristics of Postsecondary Competency-Based Education (CBE)

This rubric, drawn from the expertise of leaders within the postsecondary CBE field, helps CBE program leaders, their campus colleagues, and researchers describe key features of their CBE program. This descriptive rubric poses questions across six broad categories.

Research Explainers: What Are We Learning about Postsecondary Competency-Based Education?

This series of “explainers” provides brief summaries of the existing research on CBE. This series is intended to be useful for practitioners, program leaders, and researchers—both those already working in CBE and those interested in pursuing work in this area.

Using Continuous Quality Improvement in Competency-Based Education Programs: A Quick Guide for Practitioners and Program Leaders

This guide provides a framework, along with recommendations and tips, for continuous quality improvement in CBE programs. This guide may help you answer questions such as the following: How do we know when a change is an improvement? What works, for whom, under what conditions?