Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Competency Based Education

You are in luck, as extensive data collection exists. Here is a high-level list of required data elements.

Unfortunately, students and parents are not in control of the data. Despite FERPA, students and parents may not be able to see the data which has been collected. You (or your children, as "eligible students") may wish to inquire to receive your children's data. Learn what data is made available to you, as compared with the list of collected data elements.

If employers of high school graduates do not examine transcripts, might this make it highly unlikely that they would inspect extensive student records, in order to determine which students were higher performers?

Here, are you alluding to CBE and showing mastery regardless of number repetitions or length of time to achieve mastery... making all student accomplishments seem rather similar to one another?

Not seeing how this follows logically from the statements made above. There are many ways for individuals to distinguish themselves and develop their talents and gifts... while postsecondary education is one path, programs like Davison Fellows and various entrepreneurial efforts such as Thiel Fellowship come to mind. These opportunities do not preclude postsecondary education, rather they illustrate that distinguishing one's self can occur at any age, and do not necessarily need to wait until after postsecondary education. (More possible paths for youth to discover their passion and distinguish themselves in these threads - Carpe Juvenis, It's the Student, Not the College, and Live It!)

Agreed. However same may say this gives us plebeians too much control over our fate.

Agreed. Acceleration may be an option?

I have 2 Master's degrees, one earned through a major nationally-ranked research University, and the other through Western Governor's University, which is an online CBE program. My coursework through WGU was equally rigorous, but the format let me concentrate my time where I needed to learn and zip through what I already knew. I felt like I actually learned a lot more in my WGU program than in the traditional one, and I finished in less time (because it was at my own pace and my pace was pretty fast) and at a much lower cost.

I would love to see my kids in a well-designed CBE program. It would be in many ways a more grown-up, structured, idealized version of what I expect from a really good Montessori. Montessoris often bill themselves with "your child can go at her own pace" but that only really sort of happens.