Originally Posted by puffin
In theory it is more flexible than our old system but in practice you have to go at the speed of your class. We have a final exam component to help standardise across schools nationally and the exams are only once a year so while in theory you could move quicker the system is not set up to allow it.

From my understanding of the purpose of CBE, at least in Iowa how they plan to use it, the only reason that you'd have to go at the speed of your class is if the teacher wasn't differentiating. The whole purpose of CBE as I understand it is to BE more flexible.

What I got out of what I've heard read as a summary is what GT educators have known and many practice, that teachers are no longer the keepers of knowledge, rather, they're directors of learning.....which can and should come from many resources with the majority of resources being from how each student learns best.

All of that sounds wonderful, my largest concern though isn't students quite honestly, it's teachers on average. In our experience, the vast majority of teachers haven't mastered teaching well enough to differentiate in their own classroom with the same curriculum, let alone bringing in many other experiences and resources outside of their classroom....and needing to evaluate that outside experience.

I believe the thought pattern on which CBE can happen, however, I think it's going to take more than one generation of teachers and a change in how teachers are taught in college to earn their teaching degree. I simply don't think most teachers can handle CBE how I understand it.