Think Tanks

Institute for Competency-Based Education

MISSION AND GOALS
Our work is aligned directly with the mission of TAMU-C to provide a personal, accessible, and affordable educational experience for a diverse community of learners, engaging in creative discovery and dissemination of knowledge and ideas related to competency-based education. In order to support this mission, the Institute serves as a campus, state, and national collaboratory for innovation in order to:

• Assist institutions and state agencies with the development of competency-based programs.
• Work with policymakers and others to determine the effectiveness of competency-based programs.
• Share best practices in the development, implementation, and study of competency-based education.

Visit us for more information as we engage in our strategic planning process.

The Lumina Foundation

Lumina Foundation is the nation’s largest private foundation focused solely on increasing Americans’ success in higher education.

Overview
Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with degrees, certificates and other high-quality credentials to 60 percent by 2025. Lumina’s outcomes-based approach focuses on helping to design and build an equitable, accessible, responsive and accountable higher education system while fostering a national sense of urgency for action to achieve Goal 2025.

The Competency-Based Education Network

The Competency-Based Education Network is a group of colleges and universities working together to address shared challenges to designing, developing and scaling competency-based degree programs.

Overview
In early 2014, the network selected an initial cohort of participating colleges and universities; the cohort includes 17 institutions and two public systems serving 42 campuses. The institutions will take part in a research-and-development phase, funded by Lumina Foundation, to provide an evidence-based approach to advancing high-quality competency-based education capable of serving many more students of all backgrounds. A second cohort of 13 colleges and universities and two public higher education systems joined C-BEN in early 2015. The Network is currently comprised of 30 colleges and universities and four public systems with 82 campuses.

A Board of Directors, led by Laurie Dodge of Brandman University, was formed in spring 2013 and the network issued a formal call for membership applications in the fall.

Participating institutions either offer degree programs with well-defined learning outcomes and rigorous assessment or are on their way to creating them. The C-BEN Board of Directors, comprising higher education innovators from several of these institutions, will guide the work and periodically will issue additional calls for applications.

The Journal of Competency-Based Education

The Journal of Competency-Based Education, published four times a year, aims to serve as a primary source of information about competency-based education for educators, researchers, policymakers, and administrators.

Overview
The Journal of Competency-Based Education (JCBE) is published by Western Governors University and John Wiley & Sons, Inc. It is a peer-reviewed, online journal intended for circulation in the higher education community. With an emphasis on rapid review and dissemination, JCBE aims to advance knowledge through theoretical and empirical study across arenas of inquiry related to competency-based education and its evolution. Through dissemination of research, reviews, original conceptual articles, emerging policies, best practices, and commentary, JCBE furthers the study, documentation, and practice of competency-based education.