Today's episode is all about competency-based education and professional development. Professional development in education is notoriously bad. BloomBoard was co-founded by Jason Lange in 2010 to try to fix the problem by powering the micro-credential revolution. The team behind BloomBoard are dedicated to empowering schools, districts, and states to help meet these needs by providing educators professional learning with purpose. They know how important teachers are to student growth and learning — and through micro-credentials, they can be empowered to take control of their own growth and advancement.

Back in November, Tom caught up with Jason at the iNACOL Symposium in Nashville. There, he described the different ways that states are collaborating withBloomBoard to move professional learning to a more personalized and competency-based approach, teacher induction programs, what kinds of micro-credentials exist, and his advice for those who are interested in micro-credentials but have yet to take the leap.

Key Takeaways:

[:35] About today's episode.

[1:35] Tom welcomes Jason to the podcast.

[1:44] Tom asks, "What's new in micro-credentials?"

[2:26] Jason summarizes some of the different ways that states are collaborating with BloomBoard to move professional learning to a more personalized and competency-based approach.

[4:42] Jason explains how the many teacher induction programs generally work.

[5:58] How many micro-credentials might an induction program include?

[7:26] Jason highlights some teacher micro-credentials.

[8:31] WorkBloomBoard is doing in regards to leadership development.

[9:27] About Harmony Public Schools' commitment to micro-credentials for teachers and leaders, and their partnership withBloomBoard.

[11:36] HowBloomBoard's honeycomb chart (that shows how these school clusters are related to different levels of learning leadership) helps them build a partnership with a district or a network.

[13:57] Jason's advice to those who don't know where to start with micro-credentials.

[16:12] Could a district get content fromBloomBoard? And can they author their own micro-credentials?

[17:42] Jason gives a sneak peek of what's next in micro-credentials and BloomBoard.

Mentioned in This Episode:

BloomBoard

iNACOL

ILead

Harmony Public Schools

Getting Smart Blogs on Competency-Based Learning

For More on Competency-Based Learning, Check Out:

Episode 177: "Scaling Competency-Based Education: Equity Focused Strategies for Policy and Practice"

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