How to Actually Fix Education

Ditch the Tests, Teach for Mastery

This is a little different from my normal posts. I got a bug up my butt a few weeks back about this and I did some research. Here are my conclusions. I welcome your feedback. The thing that spurred me was how AI is impacting the classroom. We need a different path forward or our children, and all of us, will suffer. This week Neal Stephenson’s piece on Self-Reliance and AI added more thoughts from that perspective. You can read that here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-166816228

I. The False Promise of Standardized Success

Picture a fifth grader sitting at her desk, tears smudging her Scantron sheet. She studied. She tried. But the way the test is written doesn't match the way her brain works. She isn't alone. For decades, we've been training students to perform on standardized tests rather than cultivating deep understanding, curiosity, or resilience. Our system was designed for industrial efficiency, not human growth.

Standardized testing was introduced with good intentions: ensure consistency, set measurable goals, and close achievement gaps. But it quickly became the primary yardstick by which schools, teachers, and students are judged. And like any system optimized for measurement over meaning, it began to distort the very outcomes it was supposed to improve.

What was meant to be a tool for improvement became a weapon of comparison. Schools narrowed their curricula to what would be tested. Teachers taught to the test, not because they wanted to, but because funding, evaluations, and job security depended on it. Students, meanwhile, internalized the message that intelligence could be boiled down to a score. Creativity, empathy, persistence, and critical thinking, all untestable, were left behind.

The most harmful impact lands hardest on the most vulnerable. Children from low-income communities, English language learners, and neurodivergent students are often penalized by a system that doesn’t account for context. Test scores become proxies for zip codes, not indicators of potential. And the pressure? Crushing. Anxiety, burnout, and disengagement are now features of childhood, not exceptions.

We have confused standardization with fairness. But fairness doesn’t mean everyone gets the same thing. It means everyone gets what they need to succeed. And no multiple-choice test can measure that.

II. What If We Designed School for Actual Learning?

Imagine a classroom where students move forward only when they've truly mastered a skill. No arbitrary deadlines, no false advancement. Just learning at the right pace, for the right reasons.

This isn’t a radical concept. It’s how we learn in real life. When you’re learning to play an instrument, master a recipe, or pilot a plane, you don’t move on because the calendar says so. You move on because you’ve nailed it. You can demonstrate it. You understand it deeply. Why should learning algebra or persuasive writing be any different?

But our current school system is a conveyor belt. Students move in batches based on age, regardless of readiness. Some fall behind and never catch up. Others coast without challenge. The result is a system where passing doesn’t always mean learning, and failure often means you're simply out of sync with the system’s artificial clock.

A competency-based model offers a more human alternative. Instead of pushing all students through the same curriculum at the same speed, we honor individual progress. We provide support when it’s needed, challenge when it’s appropriate, and time to truly learn, not just temporarily memorize.

This approach also reintroduces purpose to learning. When students understand that mastery, not mere completion, is the goal, they’re more likely to take ownership. They can see a clear connection between effort, progress, and outcome. School becomes less about jumping through hoops and more about gaining skills they’ll actually use.

Let’s stop asking students to race through a system built for uniformity and start building a system that celebrates and supports genuine learning.

III. What Competency-Based Education Looks Like

Competency-Based Education (CBE) isn’t about lowering standards. It’s about making them meaningful.

In a CBE system:

· Students progress when they demonstrate mastery.

· Teachers provide personalized support and targeted instruction.

· Assessment is ongoing, low-stakes, and feedback-rich.

· Learning includes real-world application through projects, presentations, and problem-solving.

· Students are active participants in their own progress.

Instead of rows of desks and silent drills, imagine classrooms buzzing with collaboration. Students debating ethical dilemmas, designing solutions to real-world problems, and presenting findings to their community. That’s what learning can look like.

In practice, this might mean a student who struggles with fractions doesn’t move on until they can not only solve fraction problems but explain the concepts to a peer. Another student might accelerate through basic algebra but then slow down when tackling more abstract reasoning. The timeline adapts to the learner, not the other way around.

Teachers become learning architects. They assess where each student is, identify misconceptions, provide targeted feedback, and design experiences that allow students to apply their knowledge. Think fewer lectures, more coaching. Fewer pop quizzes, more authentic demonstrations of learning.

Students are encouraged to reflect on their progress, set goals, and advocate for the support they need. This self-awareness fosters independence, motivation, and a sense of ownership that traditional systems often suppress.

As Susan Patrick, CEO of the Aurora Institute, explains: “Competency-based education systems provide structures that foundationally are important to support personalized pathways—and at the same time—ensure equity (through mastery).”¹. Beth Rabbitt of The Learning Accelerator adds that their “definition for personalized learning, which has largely stayed the same over the last four years, is a student-centered instructional approach that individualizes learning for each student based on strengths, needs, interests, and/or goals. It allows for differentiation of path, pace, place, or modality and creates greater opportunities for student agency and choice-making.”¹

Crucially, the system also rethinks failure. In a CBE classroom, failing an assessment isn’t a dead end. It’s part of the learning process. Students revisit the material, get feedback, and try again. Failure becomes a signal for support, not a scarlet letter.

In this way, competency-based education doesn't just prepare students academically. It prepares them for life. Because life doesn’t hand out grades. It asks can you do this? And if not yet, what are you doing to improve?

IV. It’s Not Just Theory It’s Already Working

This isn’t some untested pipe dream. There are real schools already doing this and seeing real results.

· New Hampshire’s PACE program allowed districts to replace some standardized tests with performance-based assessments, resulting in lower dropout rates and deeper engagement³.

· Big Picture Learning students participate in internships and projects, leading to higher college enrollment, especially among underserved groups⁴.

· Chugach School District (Alaska) transitioned to CBE and showed major academic improvements, earning national recognition⁵.

· VLACS in New Hampshire allows fully personalized learning with strong student outcomes⁶.

· Summit Public Schools use personalized plans and mentoring to build student agency⁷.

· High Tech High (San Diego) focuses on project-based learning, producing confident, college-bound graduates⁸.

· Dallas ISD and Greeley-Evans (CO) saw academic gains and teacher satisfaction through blended CBE pilots⁹.

· Finland’s system emphasizes teacher autonomy and student well-being over standardized testing, yet ranks high internationally¹⁰.

V. The Real Shift: Trusting Teachers and Students

At the heart of the competency-based model is a radical but necessary idea, trust. Trust that teachers are not just implementers of curriculum, but skilled professionals capable of guiding complex, individualized learning journeys. Trust that students are not empty vessels to be filled, but curious minds that, when supported and respected, can become active participants in their education.

This shift begins by reimagining the role of the teacher, not as a deliverer of content, but as a mentor, facilitator, and designer of learning experiences. In traditional models, teachers are often judged by their students’ test scores, pressured to teach to the test, and bound by rigid pacing guides. In a competency-based model, teachers gain professional autonomy. They analyze student data, collaborate with peers, design formative assessments, and engage deeply with each learner’s journey¹¹.

Students, too, are empowered. They are given agency over their pace and process, encouraged to reflect on their learning, and supported when they struggle. When students are seen as capable co-creators in the classroom, their motivation shifts from compliance to curiosity. They are not being taught for a test. They are being prepared for life.

This transformation requires more than classroom tweaks. It demands changes in policy, funding, leadership culture, and assessment systems. But the return on investment is enormous: resilient, reflective, independent learners, and a reinvigorated teaching force that no longer sees itself as cogs in a broken machine.

VI. The Call to Action: Rebuild the System, Don’t Patch It

Fixing education doesn’t mean better test prep, faster data dashboards, or shinier textbooks. It means starting from first principles: What do we want kids to know, be able to do, and become? Then building everything around that.

We need to:

· Fund schools based on student learning, not seat time.

· Allow teachers the freedom to assess learning in diverse ways.

· Abandon one-size-fits-all accountability systems in favor of holistic progress.

· Prioritize student wellness, engagement, and agency alongside academics.

· Provide schools with the time, training, and support to transition away from outdated models.

This is not a matter of ideology. It is a matter of will. The knowledge is there. The examples are there. What’s missing is the courage to act.

It’s time to move beyond the narrow definition of success imposed by standardized testing. Let’s commit to an education system that sees every student as a capable learner, every teacher as a trusted professional, and every classroom as a launchpad for the future.

We don’t need to wait for a federal mandate to make change:

· Parents can advocate for pilot programs, question excessive testing, and ask schools about project-based and competency-based options.

· Educators can explore mastery-based grading, share success stories, and connect with like-minded schools.

· Policymakers can stop tying funding to test scores and start investing in teacher training and curricular flexibility.

If enough communities choose to do education differently, the system will follow.

VII. Let’s Build the System Our Kids Deserve

The world our children are inheriting is rapidly evolving. They will face challenges that cannot be answered with a number two pencil. Things like climate change, automation, misinformation, democratic instability, mental health crises, and jobs that don’t even exist yet.

We need an education system that prepares kids not just for the next exam, but for the real tests of life, collaboration, ethical decision-making, lifelong learning, and civic responsibility. We need students who can think critically, act compassionately, and adapt fearlessly.

Standardized education asks, “How well can this kid take a test?”

Competency-based education asks, “What can this kid do with what they know?”

One measures obedience and recall. The other fosters capability, resilience, and readiness for the real world.

The difference between those two questions isn’t just theoretical. It is generational. It is the future.

Let’s choose that future with intention. Let’s build the system our kids truly deserve.

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[1] Personalized Learning An Interview with National Thought Leaders and Practitioners: https://edreformnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Personalized-Learning-Brief.pdf

[2] The 74 Million: https://www.the74million.org/article/rabbitt-3-critical-conversations-we-must-have-around-the-future-of-personalized-learning/

[3] Wired: https://www.wired.com/2016/08/inside-online-school-radically-change-kids-learn-everywhere/

[4] Education Reimagined: https://education-reimagined.org/findings-from-the-big-picture-learning-longitudinal-study/

[5] Education Elements: https://education-reimagined.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/PP_Chugach.pdf

[6] VLACS Overview: https://practices.learningaccelerator.org/see/virtual-learning-academy-charter-school-vlacs

[7] Summit Model: https://summitps.org/the-summit-model/

[8] High Tech High: https://www.hightechhigh.org/lcap_goal/improve-student-centered-instruction/

[9] Aurora Institute report: https://aurora-institute.org/resource/community-schools-case-study-project/

[10] OECD PISA Data: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/pisa-2022-results-volume-i-and-ii-country-notes_ed6fbcc5-en/finland_6991e849-en.html

[11] Aurora Institute: https://aurora-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/Moving-Toward-Mastery.pdf