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Advancing Competency-Based Education Act of 2017

HR 2859 : To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish demonstration projects for competency-based education.

STATUS

This bill is from the 115th Congress.

Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. June 8, 2017

Read the Official Bill Text

A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives last week would create a demonstration project for competency-based education programs. The project would grant statutory and regulatory flexibility to participants, such as in the application of federal financial aid rules, while also creating new requirements aimed at accountability and transparency.

Co-sponsors of the proposed legislation are Luke Messer, a Republican from Indiana, and Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat. Both serve on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. The House passed a similar bill in 2014, but the U.S. Senate did not follow suit.

Dubbed the Advancing Competency-Based Education Act of 2017, the proposed legislation would require an annual evaluation of each competency-based education program in the project to measure quality, student progress toward degrees and their ability to pay off loans and find employment after graduation. It also would require accrediting agencies for participating institutions to set standards for competency-based education.