Lake County Gazette

Approximately 140 educators from across 12 states, including Colorado, gathered in Westminster for the latest Competency-Based Education Summit hosted by Westminster Public Schools (WPS). The multi-day event featured keynote presentations, collaborative workshops, and school visits aimed at sharing WPS’s two decades of experience with personalized learning.

WPS is recognized as the largest district in the United States to implement a fully competency-based system. In this approach, students move to the next level only after demonstrating mastery of a subject, allowing some to progress more quickly while others have additional time to address learning gaps.

A key component of the summit was classroom visits, where participants observed competency-based education (CBS) in practice and interacted with both teachers and students.

Gina Grier, a teacher from Greensboro, Georgia, commented on her experience: “Our kids need more than a grade, they need to understand their own learning.” She added, “It seemed overwhelming at first. How are we going do this? How are our kids going to respond? Seeing kids do it and hearing their responses, it made me more optimistic. And excited about the work.”

Superintendent Jeni Gotto noted that the summit benefits WPS staff as well: “So we were out in schools and people are just blown away by our kiddos, and the agency that they have in their learning,” she said. “Sometimes I think we take it for granted because again, it's the air we breathe. We don't know anything different at this point.”

The district organizes this summit every other year and also hosts smaller groups throughout the year for similar learning opportunities.

The Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 represents Lake County and includes several elementary and middle schools as well as Waukegan High School. The district serves a diverse student body—3.2 percent White, 13.2 percent Black, 79.5 percent Hispanic, and 1.3 percent Asian—and employs over 1,000 teachers with an average salary of $63,524 before pension contributions. In 2020, Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 spent $23,429 per student, totaling $359 million. More details about these statistics can be found on the Illinois State Board of Education’s report card for Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 at https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/.

The summit also included keynote speeches from Dr. Robert Marzano and Dr. Jeff Rose, along with closing remarks from Superintendent Jeni Gotto.