ABSTRACT
A competency-based crediting system and transcript for secondary schools, or one providing “mastery credits,” will have many important components or elements that must be developed and implemented for the system to function effectively. These elements, which this chapter addresses, include: defining the concept of a competency carefully and consistently; having a process to select or create and then validate competencies or mastery credits; establishing the pathways by which students earn competencies or mastery credits; designing teaching and learning that best support the development and demonstration of competency; crafting and using performance assessment to evaluate competency or mastery; using portfolios for collection and curation of student work; writing, validating, and applying rubrics for assessment of competency or mastery, and establishing inter-rater reliability for these rubrics; and restructuring transcripts to document and report competencies effectively.
