Many of America's children are trapped in
low-performing schools and are slipping through the education system without achieving the
needed skills to compete successfully in the national and international marketplace.
- U.S. 8th graders ranked 15th worldwide—below all Asian students—in Mathematics
and Science (TIMSS).
- Less than 75% of 8th graders go on to graduate from high school. These rates dip to
below 50% in urban schools (Alliance for Excellence in Education).
The Oquirrh Institute's Center for Competency-Measured Education is dedicated to
implementing accountability and competency-driven standards with our nation’s K-12
school system & moving public schools from a traditional “A,B,C” grading
system to one that advances students based on their mastery of skills in core academic
areas.
Feeder School Networks
The Center’s Feeder School Networks project involves 25 of Utah’s most urban,
diversely populated public schools, working together to implement a competency-measured
education system that teaches and assesses students based on their mastery of skills in
math, science, and reading. Administrators and teachers from neighborhood education
networks—public schools that take students from kindergarten through elementary,
middle, and
high school—are working together to identify and articulate competencies, assessment
tools, and critical intervention strategies needed to improve student achievement. Feeder
School Networks offer additional learning opportunities and support systems for students
struggling to master competencies, as well as focused assistance and induction to guide
teachers as they employ instructional strategies used in a competency-driven system.
Through the development of an electronic student record, Feeder School Networks also
provide schools, teachers, and parents with immediate and continuous access to student
progress and achievement gaps—critical information needed to ensure that support
systems are in place to help students advance to the next level of education.
The state of Utah is working to transition to a competency-driven system in its public
schools. The Feeder School Networks project is a results-driven model of
competency-measured education that can build on these efforts and enhance student
performance, narrow the achievement gap, and build capacity in Utah’s most
challenging, “at-risk” schools helping to produce graduates able to compete in
an ever-growing global economy.
Keeping the Promise to America's Children
Working with educational pioneers, this project is identifying and unlocking barriers to
competency-measured education, including the measurement of teaching credentials in the
fifty states. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the project is promoting
positive change in statutes and regulations that govern the preparation and certification
of teachers, addressing both the quality and quantity of teachers in the states.
Governors Education Forums
The Oquirrh Institute co-sponsors an annual forum for governors on education policy, with
topics developed by participating governors and sponsors. A wide variety of experts and
business leaders join sitting and former governors for the annual conference series, which
was founded in 2003 by the James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Leadership and Educational
Policy at the University of North Carolina.
