About the Proficiency-Based Learning Framework

The Great Schools Partnership created the Framework for Proficiency-Based Learning to help schools develop efficient standards-based systems that will prepare all students for success in the colleges, careers, and communities of the 21st century. For this reason, our model is focused on prioritizing and assessing the most vitally important knowledge and skills, while also balancing these high academic expectations with the need for flexibility, responsiveness, and creativity in the classroom.

We know that learning standards are powerful instructional assets that can bring focus and coherence to an academic program. But we also recognize that standards are sometimes translated into burdensome instructional checklists that can stifle instructional flexibility and limit learning options. In our model, competencies are prioritized learning goals based on the national and state standards that help schools and teachers design more effective academic programs and learning experiences that will meet the distinct needs of each student.

Throughout this website, school leaders and teachers will find detailed guidance on developing a proficiency-based system. We have strived to keep our guidance concise and practical, focusing only on the most essential policies, processes, and practices. In addition, we see our model as an iterative process, and we intend to revise, improve, and expand our resources over time.

Creative Commons All the resources on this site have been published under a Creative Commons license, which lets schools remix, tweak, and build upon our work non-commercially, as long as they credit us and license their new creations under the identical terms. While we retain the original copyright on the work, you can republish or repurpose anything on this site as long as you (1) credit the Great Schools Partnership as the source of the work; (2) do not sell or use the work commercially in any way; and (3) republish all work, including derivative or modified work, under an identical Creative Commons license so that others can also republish and built upon the work.


Creative Commons License Framework for Proficiency-Based Learning by Great Schools Partnership is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.