Presentations planned on competency-based education

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BROOKINGS – The Brookings School District will host a “community conversation focused on personalized competency-based education systems” this week.

The presentation featuring guest speaker Richard DeLorenzo is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Brookings High School’s Bell Auditorium. The event is free, and doors open at 5:30 p.m.

“With the Brookings School Board adopting a goal to implement a district-wide competency-based educational model over the next two years, we’ve decided to bring in Richard DeLorenzo to speak with staff and work with teams next week,” said an email message to Brookings School District families last week. “We also wanted to provide an opportunity for families and the community to learn more about personalized competency-based education systems.”

The flyer provided by the district says DeLorenzo is cofounder and consultant for the Re-Inventing Schools Coalition and an internationally known leader in education and organization restructuring.

“He is best known for his uniquely grassroots approach to reinventing school systems,” the flyer says. “Under Richard’s leadership, Alaska’s Chugach School District became the first K-12 district in the United States to move from a time-based to a performance-based system in which students must meet performance targets rather than earn credits to graduate. Richard has more than 24 years of experience working with youth at risk and students with disabilities of all ages in a wide variety of settings.”

DeLorenzo is also meeting with the Brookings School Board a day earlier. An agenda item for the meeting, starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Brookings Country Club banquet room, 2180 Clubhouse Drive, is “presentation and discussion on personalized competency-based education systems with Richard DeLorenzo.”

Both meetings are open to the public.