Are competencies only required because of Extended Learning Opportunities (ELO)?
No, the rule on requiring competencies by the school year 2008 2009 stands separate from the rule regarding extended learning opportunities. Although competencies first were brought forward for consideration in the rule making process as a means to assess student work completed outside the traditional classroom, it has become increasingly clear that competency assessment at the course level is core to how we can improve secondary education here in New Hampshire. The competencies requirement establishes performance, not time, as the standard for student success, attainment of credit, and thus eventual high school graduation. No longer is “seat time” good enough, now educators are asked to define sufficiency in terms of a student’s mastery of identified standards.
