“We have been dipping our toes into it (competency-based education), but now we are ready to dive in.”

Eric Snyder and 12 of his colleagues came to Westminster last week from Park City, Utah to fully immerse themselves in Westminster Public School’s Competency Based System (CBS).  He says he left with a “wealth of information” that he can’t wait to share with others. “I know a lot more now than I did before,” he said at the conclusion of the three-day Competency Based Education Summit. 

This year’s summit at the Marriott Hotel was the fourth to be held by the district, which has taken the lead in showing how CBS works and the hard work involved in getting it off the ground. The Summit also took visitors inside district classrooms to talk with teachers and students.  WPS is the largest school district in the country to be entirely competency based, meaning students advance to the next learning level only after showing they have a complete understanding of the learning topic. Some students take more time to catch up on their learning, while others are able to move ahead more quickly. 

“It gave me more insight on what I should be looking forward to and seeing how it is done in the elementary school setting,” said Erika Barrow from St. Louis.

More than 130 educators from a dozen states attended this year’s Summit titled, “The Personalized Classroom.” In addition to school visits, the summit hosted 33 breakout sessions and presented two keynote speeches. 

The Denver Channel previewed the summit with a report that aired the morning the conference opened.

Dr. Robert Marzano and his son, Captain Todd Marzano (retired Navy) spoke about the  High Reliability School Framework and the parallels between an effective school and the military structure.

Scott Bacon, CEO of CCBE (Center for Competency- Based Education) delivered an address entitled “Pioneering Competency-Based Education:  The Road Traveled and the Path Ahead.”

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