Concerns About Competency Based Education

Competency based education (CBE), also called proficiency based education programs are metastisizing all over the country, including in Florida where there is a bill for a pilot program (HB 1365 Ray Rodriguez/ SB 1714 Brandes) They are the next step in converting America's education system away from academic education and towards psychosocially-based workforce skills in the vision of Marc Tucker of the National Center for Education and the Economy. The infamous 1992 letter to Hillary Clinton envisioned a plan: "to remold the entire American system" into "a seamless web that literally extends from cradle to grave and is the same system for everyone," coordinated by "a system of labor market boards at the local, state and federal levels" where curriculum and "job matching" will be handled by counselors "accessing the integrated computer-based program."
Here is a brief summary of grave concerns regarding competency-based or proficiency-based education There is no agreed upon definition of competency-based education and great subjectivity of program elements

There appears to be an emphasis on low-level workforce skills and behavioral/psychological parameters instead of academic knowledg

The psychosocial teaching and profiling of students has many concerns related to privacy guaranteed under the 4 ^th amendment, freedom of thought, subjectivity and validit

Extensive data mining and sharing with third party vendors and the federal government without parental consent including for digital badges that results in much sensitive data being shared with third party vendors also without consent

Florida's data privacy law is based in the 40 year old, already weak federal FERPA law that has been gutted via regulatory fiat by the current administratio

Horrific data security for data housed by the US Dept. of Ed evidenced after two US House Oversight Committee investigative hearings
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Posted in School to Work. Tagged as Competency Based Education, data mining, non-cognitive skills, social emotional learning.

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