In alignment with Illinois’ Career and Technical Education Plan (also known as Perkins V) and the Higher Education Strategic Plan, the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) is supporting competency-based education (CBE) development by community colleges. CBE focuses on determining a student’s achievement by evaluating proficiency within a set of learning outcomes and objectives, moving away from traditional time-based constraints.
This website serves as a knowledge base for CBE educators and is comprised of statewide resources as well as materials and exemplars developed by community colleges participating in ICCB’s CBE Learning Community.
CBE Resources
Higher Learning Commission Accreditation and Program Design
Before applying for HLC approval of a CBE program, institutions should review the following:
- Common Framework for Defining and Approving Competency-Based Education Programs, Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions (C-RAC)
- Essential program components and elements of good practice provided in HLC’s CBE Program Application
- U.S. Department of Education expectations for accreditors, as outlined in guidelines published on March 19, 2013, and December 19, 2014. The guidelines highlight that a course/credit-based competency-based program that requires approval by the accreditor is one where the program is organized or reorganized around competencies, not one where competencies have been added to existing courses.
Institutions planning to offer CBE programs that are considered for Title IV eligibility should also be aware that the U.S. Department of Education requires that they obtain approval from their institutional accrediting body prior to filing their applications with the Department.
ICCB Program/Course Approval
ICCB staff are responsible for the review and approval of all courses and curricula offered at the colleges. Courses may be credit or non-credit and include baccalaureate/transfer courses, career and technical education (CTE) courses, vocational skills courses, remedial education courses, adult education courses, and English as a second language courses. Curricula may be degree or certificate programs and include all baccalaureate/transfer options (A.S., A.A., A.F.A., A.E.S., A.G.S., A.A.T.) and CTE options (A.A.S. and certificates).
Colleges are required to submit requests for new courses/programs and revisions to existing courses/programs to ICCB staff prior to being offered at their institution.
Lessons Learned from the ICCB CBE Design Team
Explore how Illinois colleges prepared for competency-based education through a collaborative effort with ICCB, the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN), and Education Systems Center at Northern Illinois University.