Mastery Based Learning: A Costly Pathway to Graduation?
Mastery Based Learning, also called Competency Based Learning, is a fancy (and expensive) term for providing pathways to graduation for students who have not mastered the basic standards in academics, specifically ELA, math and science. Every state in the country is implementing MBL on some level and Washington state is pushing hard to advance it in 2025.
MBL is a system which employes “strategies to ensure equity for all students are embedded in the culture, structure, and pedagogy of schools and education systems.” Equity: Equal outcomes in credit attainment via MBL are required by school districts for the hundreds of ethno-racial groups the state education department/state superintendent collects data on.
Of course, to build an “effective program” would require more government funding. Not only is MBL not in the best interest of the student, but it is an additional burden on the taxpayers.
MBL is inseparable from “Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education” (CRSE). According to Mastery Collaborative, Aurora Institute, “culturally responsive teaching creates a learning environment that integrates students’ cultural identities and ensures equitable and inclusive educational experiences, creating positive academic outcomes, increased engagement, and a sense of belonging among students from various cultural backgrounds.”
CLW’s Education Lead, Jeannie Magdua, gives more information on Mastery Based Learning in the short video below.
Please consider watching the Senate K12 Education Committee Work Session next Friday, December 13th at 10:30AM to learn more about the plans for MBL legislative in 2025. The meeting will be streamed live on tvw.org
Today is Day 3 of Pre-Filing in Washington. Get a quick update on what we’ve seen so far and ways you can engage in the next couple of weeks on legislative activity.
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