The operational definition of competency‐based education

Abstract

Background: As education in the United States pushes for accountability, educational programs across the country are attempting to find innovative ways to measure student learning outcomes. Competency‐based education is one model favorable among many academic institutions and accreditation agencies because it links theory to practice (Clark, Competency‐based education for social work: Evaluation and curriculum issues, 1976; Hall & Jones, Competency‐based education: A process for the improvement of education, 1976; Johnstone & Soares, Change, 46, 2014, 12; Pace, Competency education series: Policy brief one, 2013). The research indicates that there is no standard definition of competency‐based education and agreement on the criteria that encompass this model (Book, All hands on deck: Ten lessons from early adopters of competency‐based education, 2014; Le, Wolfe, & Steinberg, The past and the promise: Today's competency education movement, 2014; Riesman, On competence: A critical analysis of competence‐based reforms in higher education, 1979). Methods: This research reviewed the literature on competency‐based education and interviewed key informants from various disciplines to gain a deeper understanding of this phenomenon. Results: This research constructs an operational definition of competency‐based education and then applies this definition to build an assessment tool to determine the extent that competency‐based education exists in an academic program.