Direct Assessment Competency-Based Education

In DA CBE, learning is demonstrated by the mastery of skills, which are represented by competencies. By the end of a DA CBE program, students will have proven their learning through activities and experiences that align with these competencies.

Faculty develop competencies tailored to industry standards, ensuring program alignment to workforce skills and needs. Students progress based on their demonstrated mastery of these competencies through designed assessments and tailored coaching support. Based on where learners are, those with years of relevant experience can accelerate their path to degree attainment, while those who need more time can pace learning accordingly. Ultimately, this student-centered modality creates additional pathways for degree completion without sacrificing learning, rigor, or industry-alignment.

DA CBE supports the California Community Colleges' student-centered approach in the following ways:

• Flexible: Students can access learning materials at their convenience and can engage in learning when it suits their schedule.
• Self-Paced: Students can progress through competencies at their own pace.
• Personalized: Students have access to individualized guidance and feedback.
• Workforce-Aligned: Programs focus on competencies that are valued by the employers.
• Transparent: Competencies define clear markers of knowledge, skills and abilities
• Cohesive: Students enroll in fully designed, end-to-end programs.
• Valid assessment: Assessments crafted to demonstrate skills students will apply directly to their future career.

Chancellor's Office Blueprint for Systemwide DA CBE Implementation

In 2020, the Chancellor’s Office collaborated with the California Community Colleges Curriculum Committee (5C) to develop a regulatory framework for DA CBE, aligning with system goals and emphasizing student-centered learning. This framework drew from national best practices and was tailored to the unique landscape of the California Community Colleges system. Following this, the Board of Governors ratified this framework in 2021. Additionally, to support system wide implementation, the Chancellor’s Office launched the DA CBE Collaborative in June 2021, an innovative, multi-year, grant-funded cohort of colleges piloting DA CBE. The DA CBE Collaborative is a peer learning community of 8 pilot colleges tasked with developing their own DA CBE associate degree programs to inform system wide implementation.

Each college in the DA CBE Collaborative is tasked with designing new, first-of-its-kind, DA CBE associate degree programs. As a multi-year initiative, these colleges came together to establish local structures as well as inform statewide policies and regulations to support the systemwide development and implementation of DA CBE. As an innovative and novel modality, the DA CBE Collaborative aims to develop a DA CBE program blueprint that empowers students in their educational journey through alternative, dynamic pathways to degree attainment. The flexibility these dynamic pathways offer can provide students that had to pause their higher education due to rigid and/or uncertain life obligations a way back to degree attainment.

Colleges Currently Offering Their Own DA CBE Programs

Colleges Currently Designing Their Own DA CBE Programs

Source: The Volta Learning Group. CCC | Competency-Based Education (CBE) Learning Series. October 2, 2023

If you're interested in creating your own DA CBE program, please reach out to Michael (Billy) Wagner at CBE@CCCCO.edu.