Career Guidance on the Cutting Edge of Competency-Based Assessment

Abstract

This article describes New Hampshire's efforts in developing and implementing a Competency-Based Transcript for secondary education. The Competency-Based Transcript is a method of recording the attainment of skills as well as traditional educational learning represented by grades, test scores, etc. The impact, on students' developing self-esteem, of the opportunity to demonstrate learned skills is discussed. The role of Career Guidance in competency-based teaching, learning, and assessment cannot be underestimated because of the cross-cutting skills that form a foundation for all academic, social, and career learning. Trends in assessment may favour a comprehensive testing model which captures what students know without opportunity to demonstrate what they are able to do with that knowledge, particularly in the higher grades, 9 through 12. Assessment models that use portfolios as "checklists" of skills practiced or attained may also only document opportunities to access knowledge and may not be reliable methods of assessment. New Hampshire's Competency-Based Transcript model and its method of application is described and discussed as an assessment method in which students demonstrate what they are able to do and demonstrations are evaluated against one performance standard, with both internal and external consistency reviews. This is a professional judgement model, which requires training and reform in teaching, learning, and assessment methods. This model aligns with and mutually supports both state curriculum frameworks and state testing.