Giving Compass' Take:

• Education Dive highlights thoughts from longtime educator Peter Greene, who says that the framework for competency-based education (CBE) resembles outcome-based education, a model from the 1990s that didn't work. Greene believes that, despite the similarities, CBE has the chance to be successful because of specific goals set.

• Still, it's worth asking: Are we repeating the mistakes from the past, just under a different name? That's the key question in this piece, although advocates of CBE may want to look at more context, including how new technology is helping.

• Here are some state policies that support competency-based programs.

Competency-based education, which goes hand in hand with personalized learning, has recently been introduced as a new concept, but it has many traces to previous frameworks and policy proposals. The root of the idea comes from a central — and by no means new — push to define student preparedness by mastery of material rather than time spent in a classroom.

And this isn't the first time someone has said the framework is based on an older model, either: Rose Colby, a competency-based learning and assessment specialist and author, called CBE a resurfacing of a policy that was ultimately overshadowed by No Child Left Behind.

The revival of CBE also came with proposals to abandon letter grades in favor of tracking students' grasp of different tasks and additionally focusing on nonacademic skills like empathy and communication. Why the revival of this type of perspective? Educators and school communities nationwide are increasingly noticing that students aren't benefiting from a rigid, one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, the idea is that catering to students' needs and preferences, shaping the classroom around the way they learn, and encouraging flexibility in the process are what's needed for success. And in some areas, it's working.

Read the full article about competency-based education by Jessica Campisi at Education Dive.