Examining Eight-Year Bachelor’s Degree Completion Rates for U.S. Institutions Offering Competency-Based Education and Comparable Traditional Institutions

Abstract

Competency-based education (CBE) is a learner-centric framework that emphasizes what students “know and can show” more than how much time they spend in the classroom. CBE advocates claim that by allowing students to take as little or as much time as they need to demonstrate their mastery of course competencies, students develop higher levels of proficiency and are better prepared to enter the workforce. Despite having been in existence for decades, CBE has not been widely adopted in postsecondary education, and studies of CBE as a viable alternative to traditional methods of education remain scarce. The purpose of this cross-sectional multiple regression study is to investigate whether postsecondary institutions using CBE have significantly different completion rates than comparable institutions using traditional education methods. The study uses data from the IPEDS Outcome Measures survey component, a data set that includes cohort-based completion data for part-time and non-first-time students as well as for first-time, full-time students. In this way, the study may uniquely enhance the existing research in CBE and provide valuable data to educators, administrators, policymakers, and consumers on whether CBE can “hold its own” with traditional teaching methods.

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