“Pandemic boosts interest in ‘mastery-based’ learning, though evidence remains thin”

“The pandemic killed “seat time,” at least temporarily.”

Mastery based :(competency  based) – personalized learning

“Some have even called interest in mastery-based (also referred to as competency-based) learning a “silver lining” of the pandemic.”

“In a non-mastery system, you took a test, you got an 80% … and you move on to the next concept,” said Khan. “In a mastery-based system, you say no, you just haven’t mastered it yet. You get as many shots on goal as you need.”

Instead, some students work independently on computers, others meet one-on-one with teachers, and still others work together in small groups. Students prove their mastery of specific concepts in part through a personalized computer program that offers quizzes and tracks students’ progress. Classrooms may mix students across age and grade levels.

In line with that idea, Cleveland is considering replacing traditional grade levels with multi-grade classrooms.

“We’ve got opportunities here to really test, challenge and maybe abandon some of these time-bound structures of education that have never really conformed to what we know about good child development,” said Cleveland’s school district CEO Eric Gordon.

In other cases, a competency-based approach may not lead to dramatic changes in classrooms. When Maine moved to mastery-based high school diplomas, most schools appeared to focus on changing how grades were awarded, rather than how teaching worked.

New York City’s Carranza focused on grading in his comments to Khan about how the city would handle students who struggle during this crisis. “If a student hasn’t mastered that subject area, they’re not going to get a failure — they’re going to get ‘in progress,’ and that says you have some more work to do,” he said.

What is clear is that the coronavirus has made conditions ripe for schools to adopt this kind of instruction.

Grade-level testing, which may constrain educators’ ability to teach above or below grade level, has been canceled this school year. Seat time requirements have been waived. Devices have been rapidly distributed to students in many districts. And remote instruction means some teachers may be naturally allowing students to work at their own pace rather than employing traditional instruction.

https://www.chalkbeat.org/2020/5/28/21272602/ed-tech-mastery-competency-based-learning-coronavirus