Approximately 140 educators including teachers, administrators, and staff from Westminster Public Schools, advanced the understanding and use of Competency Based Education during the district’s most recent Summit, which wrapped up last week. Attendees came to Westminster from 12 states including Colorado. 

The multi-day event included a series of keynote presentations, collaborative workshops, and school visits designed to share what WPS has learned during its two-decade implementation of personalized learning. WPS is the largest district in the country to be entirely competency-based. In this system, students advance to the next level only after showing mastery of a learning topic. The Competency Based System (CBS) allows some students to move forward more quickly, while other students can take more time to fill in gaps in their learning. 

For most participants, the highlight of the summit was visiting classrooms, where they met directly with teachers and students to see CBS in action.

“Our kids need more than a grade, they need to understand their own learning,” said Gina Grier a teacher from Greensboro, Georgia. Her school is moving towards personalized learning, but leaders realized they need some outside expertise. “It seemed overwhelming at first,” she reflected at the conclusion of the summit. “How are we going do this? How are our kids going to respond? Seeing kids do it and hearing their responses, it made me more optimistic. And excited about the work.”

Superintendent Jeni Gotto said the summit is a great benefit to the district as well. She said that for WPS staff to see an outsider’s perspective of CBS is important and reaffirms their hard work.  

“So we were out in schools and people are just blown away by our kiddos, and the agency that they have in their learning,” she said with pride. “Sometimes I think we take it for granted because again, it's the air we breathe. We don't know anything different at this point.”  

WPS hosts the summit every other year and also brings in smaller groups to the district during the course of the year. 

The video below provides an overview of the summit. You can also view a portion of the keynote speeches from Dr. Robert Marzano and Dr. Jeff Rose as well as closing comments from Superintendent Jeni Gotto.