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1. Perspectives in AE— Competency-Based Education
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Competency-Based Education: Changing the Traditional College Degree Power, Policy, and
Practice New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource Development 26 (4) 47-53
Bonnie Ordonez Abstract Higher education is going through a time of change. The United
States federal government and its Department of Education are calling for reform as student
debt has increased and the cost of college tuition has risen steadily to unattainable levels. In
the next decade, the number of jobs requiring a college degree will increase to 70% of all
new jobs. Competency-based education is currently being explored as an alternative to a
traditional college degree. Under this umbrella, students will be assessed on what they
know rather than how much time they will spend seated in a classroom. Competency, rather
than credit, is now being given serious consideration by federal and state agencies. This
literature review examines the research and provides an overview of competency-based
education. New and existing programs demonstrate a variety of formats and approaches to
competency-based education. The literature also addresses various types direct
assessments including prior learning assessments, formative and summative assessments.
It is increasingly evident that there is a need for an alternative to the traditional, expensive
college degree. United States President Barack Obama has put out the call for a more
affordable, quality college education with increased completion and job placement rates
soon after graduation (White House, 2013). The Department of Education has followed suit
and has opened the door for higher education to experiment with different education
delivery options (Duncan, 2011). Competency-based education (CBE) may just be one of the
solutions. CBE focuses on what students know as demonstrated by mastery of competencies
and differs significantly from the traditional, course-sequenced, credit-based college degree
program (Klein-Collins, 2013). Despite concerns among professors and traditional college
educators, there are an increasing number of CBE degree programs being created due to a
political push for more affordable college degrees. Once only found in profit-based
institutions such as Capella University, non-profit universities such as Western Governors
University, Southern New Hampshire University, Northern Arizona University, and the
University of Wisconsin are just a few of the institutions who are now delivering
competency-based education to a larger population of college-bound students. In a more

2. specific example, College for 1 Bonnie Ordonez, Seton Hill University, Greensburg,
Pennsylvania 15601 Email: bordonez@setonhill.edu Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals,
Inc., Perspectives in AE— Competency-Based EducationA Wiley Company 48 New Horizons
in Adult Education & Human Resource Development, 26 (4) America, a branch of Southern
New Hampshire University, began offering a competency-based degree program in April,
2013. The program began with 500 enrolled students, which demonstrates an interest for
an alternative to a traditional college education or for-profit college degree (Kamenetz,
2013). These developments advance a more learner-centered educational platform and
student driven approach to college education. Stakeholders at all levels of higher education
are taking a closer look at the process and standard model and changing traditional
education models to see how technology and other recent developments might change the
landscape of higher education. Competency- Based Education The current push toward
competencies has provided a fresh look at an educational delivery format that professional
and vocational programs have utilized for years. Shapiro (2014) reports the following:
Competency models will make significant headway at the growing number of institutions
that offer skillbased programs with clearly delineated and easily assessed learning
outcomes. They will also appeal to students who want to save time and money by getting
credit applied to past experience. Institutions that serve these students will thus find
competency models to be a competitive advantage. (p. 3) Shapiro points out the benefits of
CBE and raises alarm for the traditional college educator. He addresses concerns that CBE
could mean fewer classes and less student-professor interaction. CBE models focus on
experiential learning through real world activities, giving students an alternative to the
‘ivory tower’ education of the past. As Shapiro (2014) and others point out, competency-
based education has played a role in traditional education for decades. Colleges and
universities have historically offered adult students credit for life skills and used prior
learning assessments to determine and measure student outcomes. Dating back to the
implementation of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as college education became
accessible to a wider population of adult learners, discussions on measuring competency
rather than attendance has evolved. Competency-based programs have distinct features
that differ from traditional credit-based degree programs in many ways. One way is that
competency-based education is generally self-paced and utilizes prior learning experience
to meet competencies (Klein-Collins, 2013). Lepi (2013) defines CBE as a shift from seat
time to mastery of concepts at ones own pace. Traditionally, students schedule courses each
semester and subsequently sit in a classroom for a specified period of time. While students
can schedule more classes, the pace of their degree completion is predetermined by course
offerings and academic calendars. In a competency-based program students control how
slowly or quickly they complete their program of study through the mastery of each
competency. Another area where CBE differs from traditional education is measurement of
learning. In a competency-based program success is measured in completing tasks and
assessments that demonstrate outcomes (Fain, 2013a). Perspectives in AE— Competency-
Based EducationThese assessments can take the form of projects, tests, written
assignments, and other concrete measurements (KleinCollins, 2013). Klein-Collins, in her
report for the National Institute of Learning Outcomes, lists five key concepts that define

3. CBE in existing programs. Those include: 1. Competencies: An educated person is someone
who does not just “know” but can also “do”. 2. Quality: Defining the competencies required
for graduation helps ensure the quality of graduates. 3. Assessment: Competency-based
assessment validates learning. 4. Learning: Programs should focus on learning rather than
on time spent in learning activities. 5. Student-Centered: Programs should “meet students
where they are.” (p. 5-8) Important to these concepts is the notion that students vary in
background and experience. Meeting a student at their personal level takes that experience
into consideration and often rewards the learner for life skills and proficiency of concepts
already mastered through the work force. This has been done to a limited degree at
traditional, non-profit universities, and, to a greater extent, at for-profit universities, but is
the hallmark of a competency-based degree program (Klein-Collins, 2013). 49 New
Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource Development, 26 (4) Competency-based
education has been steadily gaining attention from various agencies. First, the National
Governors Association (2013) stated in a brief prepared for the Governors’ Education Policy
Advisors Institute held on September 25, 2013 in New Orleans. This brief states that
competency education does not measure class attendance but moreover mastery of skills. It
went on to report that competency programs are flexible and provide options for students
that traditional credit-based degree programs do not offer. Second, the Carnegie Foundation
expressed support for competency-based programs when they stated, “technology has
revealed the potential of personalized learning,” and that “it is time to consider how a
revised unit, based on competency rather than time, could improve teaching and learning in
high schools, colleges and universities” (Waters, 2013). The Carnegie Foundation is best
known for inventing the credit hour in 1906. Seat time has traditionally been the yardstick
by which college credit has been measured. However, the institution responsible for
shaping higher education as it exists today, recognizes the current landscape of
technological, social, and cultural changes (Waters, 2013). Referred by Soares (2012) as the
“cognitive tutor”, advanced technology allows for online, independent instruction, built-in
remediation and decision point learning where learners are accelerated or remediated
based on a variety of measures besides seat time. The computerized learning environment
is driven by the student rather than a professor to determine progress and validate learning
along the way. In addition to online environments and learning, competency-based credits
can be also earned through “internships, independent studies, summer jobs, and beyond”
(White, 2013, p. 5). Third, in a speech given at the Federal Student Aid Conference in 2011,
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan remarked, “the century-old practice of awarding
degrees based on seat time in a classroom, rather than on demonstrated competence, is
now at odds with a world in which the Internet offers perpetual opportunities for learning
and gaining skills at your own pace.” In March, 2013, the Department of Education
approved the awarding of financial aid by using the “direct assessment” clause in the
revised Higher Education Act of 2005. Perspectives in AE— Competency-Based
EducationThis opened the door for programs like Southern New Hampshire University’s
College for America to provide quality, competency -based, self-paced degree programs
(Field, 2013). Last, and in addition to the Department of Education’s action, university
accreditors are changing their policies to allow for less traditional delivery models. In May,

4. 2011 the Western Association of Schools and College (WASC) was given a grant by the
Lumina Foundation in order to study and test viable options for the Degree Qualifications
Profile (DQP). WASC partnered with Brandman University to pilot these DQP options in a
competency-based baccalaureate degree program (Klein-Collins, 2012). These institutional
changes are in response to the changing needs of students and other enrollment factors.
CBE and Its Impact Box and LeBlanc (2014) report statistics from the Georgetown Center on
Education and Workforce that the United States will gain 55 million new jobs in the next ten
years. 40 million of those jobs will require a college degree. The government, regulatory
agencies, accrediting bodies, colleges, families and students are left to wonder how can the
workforce be educated in new, innovative, affordable ways when 70% of new jobs will
require a college degree. The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (2013) states on
their website, “One in five people in this country right now – over 43 million – have some
college credit but no degree. They stopped attending college for many reasons, but they
didn’t stop learning. They have probably had job training, or even significant life experience,
that resulted in intense levels of learning.” While there is no specific type of student who
enrolls in a competency based degree programs, current statistics demonstrate some
generalities. Students in CBE programs are typically non-traditional students. For example,
at Western Governors University (WGU) the average age is 36 years old. They have students
from all 50 United States. They also have many students in military service both in the
United States and abroad (WGU, 2014). Many students in CBE programs are already in the
workforce and are looking to further their education for a job change 50 New Horizons in
Adult Education & Human Resource Development, 26 (4) or growth in their current jobs.
Southern New Hampshire University has a similar demographic of students as well as the
for-profit University of Phoenix. These are adult students who are low to middle class and
not in an economic position to afford traditional college tuition and do not have the time to
complete on-site course work (Kahn, 2014). Many students in these programs have some
college already but others only a high school diploma or GED. The most successful students
are non-traditional, have some college education, and are highly motivated to complete a
degree program (Klein-Collins & Baylor, 2013). The question often asked by traditional
university faculty and administration is: How will students be adequately assessed in a CBE
program? The core of a quality competency-based degree program is assessment.
Assessments can be categorized into three broad areas: Prior learning assessment,
formative assessment and summative assessment. The heart of CBE programs is assessing
what students already know. Perspectives in AE— Competency-Based EducationPrior
learning assessments examine on the job training and skills, previous college experience,
military training, volunteer service and independent study. Formative assessments are used
to assist students in finding the correct path of study and to adjust the curriculum to meet
the student’s needs. Formative assessments are continuous. Summative assessments
examine what a student has learned over a period of time. These are often traditional
assessment methods such as standardized tests (Anderson, 2013). The U.S. Department of
Education decided in March of 2013 to allow direct assessment rather than seat time and
grades to determine the basis for a college degree (Fain, 2014). Fain cites the federal
definition of direct assessment as follows: A direct assessment program is an instructional

5. program that, in lieu of credit hours or clock hours as a measure of student learning, utilizes
direct assessment of student learning, or recognizes the direct assessment of student
learning by others. The assessment must be consistent with the accreditation of the
institution or program utilizing the results of the assessment. (p. 2) What is significant here
is that direct assessment measures remove the barrier of seat time and grades to allow for a
more flexible program that allows for self-paced learning. Students are not forced to wait
semesters or even years to take a course, but only need to complete assessments to move
forward in their education (Fain, 2014). Western Governors University lists the following
assessments for different competency completion: Problem solving, computerized exams,
projects, reflection essays, and research papers. Southern New Hampshire University has
nine broad competency categories. Their two-year associate degree includes 120
competencies that fall within the nine broad clusters (Anderson, 2013). Competency
clusters demonstrate how learning outcomes and assessments will disaggregate the credit
hour and chunk outcomes into small, assessable blocks, which allows students to work
more quickly through concepts they already know. Many programs allow for students to
progress in a non-linear direction, completing familiar outcomes first (Klein-Collins, 2012).
With the development of assessments and new models of delivery, CBE programs intend to
meet the needs of a changing academic landscape and offer several benefits to the
traditional model. Advocates of CBE cite many advantages in the move away from
traditional education models. The National Association of College and University Attorneys’
(2014) list in a response paper to the Department of Education several advantages to CBE.
Cost, relevance to work, self-pacing, individualized instruction, a mapped-out plan of study
along with divergent assessment strategies are just some of the benefits of a CBE program.
In addition, CBE programs tend to offer better analytics as the competency levels and
assessments are typically online and can generate continuous, detailed data (NACUA, 2014).
Competency-based degrees are a fraction of the cost of a 4-year traditional college degree.
For example, Southern New Hampshire University charges $5000 for their two-year
associate degree ($2500 per year), while Western Governors University charges
approximately $3000 for a six-month subscription (Fain, 2013b). However, students are not
constrained by semesters and can work through degree programs according to their own
pace. “Sprinters” are defined as students who work quickly through degree programs with
some finishing in months rather than 51 New Horizons in Adult Education & Human
Resource Development, 26 (4) years. While struggling students or those who do not have
the time to devote to their studies may move at a slower pace, but these students will find
the cost becomes greater over time (Kamenetz, 2013). The CBE model allows for self-pacing
at various levels. Some are sequenced and permit students to only complete certain
modules before unlocking others. Students can complete competency assessments when
they choose rather than being told or waiting for a new semester to begin. Generally,
students can complete a summative assessment when they feel they can meet the
competency and can retest frequently (Box & LeBlanc, 2014). Perspectives in AE—
Competency-Based EducationProponents of CBE programs also cite the lack of consistency
regarding credit hours. Its application from university to university differs and therefore a
3-credit course can be much different among and even within institutions. Competencies,

6. however, are defined, which makes them clear and assessable. Student learning is
measurable and employers can get a clear snapshot of what a student can do once a
competency skill or task is mastered (KleinCollins, 2012). While there are many advantages
to CBE programs, there are also many concerns. Critics contend that CBE programs are
widening the gap and social stratification in higher education, which means offering less of a
degree in the competency model than a traditional four-year face-to-face degree program.
Competency-based programs are based on skill completion and that does not sit well with
traditional academicians who feel that learning must take place only in the ivory towers of
the academy. Some fear that graduates from these programs will lack the ability to relate
theory with skills, which will leave graduates at a disadvantage when it comes to
communicating their understanding of theoretical background knowledge (Bell & Mitchell,
2000). In terms of curriculum design, opponents to competency-based education assert
three issues inherent with the design of competencies. The first is the “modular nature” of
this approach. Modules tend to wrap learning experiences, practice, feedback, and
assessment into an isolated package that may make it challenging for students to connect
with other modules. The second concern is the fear that while a student may exhibit a skill
successfully that does not always translate into knowledge and understanding of content.
Finally, curriculum designers state the obvious in pointing out that many competency-based
programs lack interpersonal engagement. The relationship developed in a face-to-face
classroom is simply not the same as those made online while working through modules of
content (Donoghue & Chapman, 2010). Conclusion Competency-based education may
become a viable alternative to the traditional college degree program. With the federal
government opening the door for institutions to evaluate students on direct assessment
rather than seat time, many colleges are making an effort to test the market. If successful,
traditional and non-traditional students will have another alternative to achieving a college
degree. These new degree programs are not without opponents who cite a variety of
concerns from social stratification to the lack of connection in the modular design. Despite
these challenges, Western Governors University, the College for America, Northern Arizona
University and the University of Wisconsin seem …Perspectives in AE— Competency-Based
Education