KALISPELL — Kalispell School District teachers have been implementing Personalized Competency-Based Education into their classrooms for the last four years.
This type of education model shifts learning from a one-size-fits-all approach to a more flexible and specialized learning experience for each individual student.
“And really the main shift of what we are going for is that students are really empowered with their learning,” said Peterson Elementary Principal Shay LaCasse.
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Empowering educators to empower students. LaCasse said that’s the goal as the district works toward Personalized Competency-Based Education.
“Now that ownership of learning is kind of transferring to the students and they are able to tell us what they are really good at, what they want to get better at or an area that they need to work on and then an area that they grow, so it’s not a mystery of how and where their learning comes from,” said LaCasse.
The education model empowers students to make individual goals and provides the resources needed to reach those goals.
“The hope is that students see the value in learning and how that applies to the real world because that’s really a lot of their life is going to be outside of the school, actually,” added LaCasse.
Superintendent Matt Jensen said the program is built around student agency, students exercising control over their own education.
“When you walk into our classrooms, you’re not seeing a teacher presenting a lesson that’s the same lesson to every student; what you’re seeing is students engaged in the curriculum, in the standards for what they need at that time,” said Jensen.
Jensen said this kind of specialized learning helps empower students beyond just the classroom.
“We have the normal day-to-day business of running a classroom and this is an addition, so this is a big lift, but it’s so empowering and so fun, we’re just seeing the dividends of the work that our staff and students are putting in.”
Fifth grade student Rocco Tomlinson is interested in web design; he’s using his Personalized Competency-Based Education to help build up the school’s website at Peterson Elementary School. His focus is on helping new students get to know their teachers.
“We have been set to take pictures of all the staff in the building, ask them five questions and put them on the Peterson web page so you know what all the staff look like and the teachers look like,” said Tomlinson.
Jensen said the individual-based learning model gives students a chance to job shadow different careers and can ultimately lead to internships and apprenticeships at the high school level.
“We’re just instilling and building on the values that their parents are instilling in them from a young age and transforming it over to the academic side of life,” said Jensen.
