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Competency-Based Programs Have the Potential to Benefit Certain Students

• Competency-based programs have the potential to increase the alignment between graduate skills and employer needs, as well as addressing degree-completion rates by offering new pathways to students.
• Program administrators for most of Texas's competency-based programs and a sample of students from one program report that the programs offer many benefits to students.
• Self-motivated students and students with prior education and work experience may be most likely to be successful in the nonstandard structure of competency-based programs.
• Competency-based programs offer the potential to obtain degrees and certificates at a significantly lower cost to student, particularly those with subscription-based tuition.

Development of Competency-Based Curriculum Still Has Some Challenges

• Critics cite a number of concerns about competency-based programs, including the potential threat the programs provide to traditional programs and faculty jobs, concerns about the applied nature of the content and the impact this has on the ability to connect knowledge to theory, and the modularized structure and its inability to translate competencies across settings and to make connections across competencies.
• Some institutions in Texas and the literature faced challenges with implementation, including: (1) integration of the programs into existing administrative tools and processes, (2) restrictive oversight by the federal government and accreditors, (3) a need to ensure faculty buy-in and provide training, (4) a need to developing the content for the programs, (5) requirements for enhanced student support, (6) a need to develop stronger connections with employers, and (7) challenges with growing and sustaining the programs.