Mastery-based Education – A New, Olde Idea
Mastery-based = competency-based = outcome-based education.
None of this is new. Four decades ago, outcome-based education was implemented and failed, so education reformers simply brought it back with a shiny new name. Maine calls it Proficiency-based; Utah, Competency-based; and Idaho, Mastery-based. This document from 1984 shows the correlation.
1984FederallySponsoredOBEProjectHL
1984FederallySponsoredOBEProjectHL
I agree that the idea of a student being able to progress at his own pace is ideal, but how is that practically applied to a classroom of 20+ students? It’s humanly impossible for a teacher to spend the time or have the necessary resources to keep that many students moving forward at their own pace. The only way it works is to put the kids in front of a computer. But, then who gets between the computer and the child? Who knows what exactly is being delivered to that child through an ever-evolving, online, open-source curriculum? What is the agenda of the group or company supplying these online curricula? These are just a few of the serious concerns connected to Mastery-Based Education.
Listed below are two more documents that list even more concerns with this recycled, decades-old, educational scheme wrapped in new technology:
So, why are we implementing this? What is the end goal of MBE?
We must remember, ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) tightened the circle around all educational choices. Page 17 of the Law was deadly serious when it laid out the mandate for ALL education to be workforce readiness aligned! The goal of the CCSS Machine is to have NO choice, but a workforce training one, for every citizen and student.
Consorting To Align And Undermine
So, watch out Idaho as this new/old idea continues to be implemented in Idaho a piece at a time in individual school districts around the state. There is a large agenda with a lot money behind it, and the primary concern is not the education of our children.
Tags: competency, Mastery, MBE
