Our Leadership Journey
State & district leaders dedicated themselves to partnering with us through numerous cycles of coaching, workshops, sharing, and building capacity alongside learning communities.
South Carolina’s approach to designing and implementing a competency-based framework linked to their Profile of the SC Graduate was driven by a common vision for creating equitable access to personalized competency development for their K-12 learners, as well as a change leadership approach that valued:
Modeling Personalized Support
Creating the ability for districts, schools, and teachers to choose the entry point and pathway forward that worked for them, on an opt-in basis
Sustaining Adult Capacity-Building
Providing intensive, ongoing coaching at the teacher and leader level, as well as workshops, Fellowship cohorts, online courses, and implementation resources
Capturing Authentic Practice
Fostering regular opportunities for sharing outcomes and examples of shifts in instruction and assessment within and across schools and roles
Documenting the Process
Curating the structures, tools, and processes that districts can utilize to implement personalized, competency-based approaches for years to come
A Learner-Centered Approach
The learner-centered approach enabled simultaneous capacity building for state, district leaders, teachers, and coaches integrating competencies into curricula. The state transitioned from exploration to defining measurable K-12 and adult learner outcomes. Providing districts choice in implementation support and professional learning, and aligning resources to emerging needs was key.
“When I align a competency with a standard it is easier for students to understand the value the lesson has to their lives. I used a competency based rubric to grade a final project with my 7th graders and then had conferences with them to review their scores and what adjustments could be made in the future. Although content may change, the competencies will live in school. Students seemed more open to receiving feedback because they knew it lived beyond this one assessment.”
EDUCATOR
Check out the PersonalizeSC podcast episode featuring our Managing Director, Sydney Schaef, in “More Than A Poster: A Candid Convo on the Profile of the SC Graduate Competencies”
Unpack the Five Big Ideas
Check out our article on Five Big Ideas for Learner-Centered Competency Framework Design, authored by Sydney Schaef for the Aurora Institute.
Making Your Profile Actionable
Turn an abstract concept into measurable progress with Three Important Ways to Make Your Profile of a Graduate Actionable, authored by Sydney Schaef for District Administration