Center for Certification & Competency-Based Education publishes new research journal

LAWRENCE — The Achievement & Assessment Institute’s Center for Certification & Competency-Based Education (C3Be) has launched the Competency-Based Education Research Journal (CBERJ), which serves to advance knowledge of competency-based education through empirical investigations, theory development articles and integrative conceptual reviews. 

Published through KU Libraries as an open access journal and co-sponsored by the American Institutes for Research and the Competency-Based Education Network, the inaugural issue of CBE Research Journal went live Nov. 8. The journal was conceived at a CBE convening at KU in April attended by 18 national and international CBE experts, researchers and practitioners. After going through a draft of the first volume, the group unanimously agreed that a journal was needed to address the existing gap in CBE research and to provide a platform for sharing this work with the public.

“What we have found in developing these competency-based programs with KU is that there is very little empirical research around competency-based education. While the term competency-based education is used frequently in education circles, the true definition of competency-based education is not well established, nor is the research,” said Diane DeBacker, assistant vice provost of Jayhawk Flex and Jayhawk Online, director of C3Be and co-executive editor of the journal. 

“We wanted to create a space for researchers to publish their work on CBE and what they are doing in their own institutions and have that available to the public.”

DeBacker said that a similar journal had previously been published by Wiley and sponsored by Western Governors University, but it had stopped publishing a few years ago. Consequently, DeBacker said that there was a lack of places for CBE researchers to submit their work.

The journal’s first volume serves as a research agenda for CBE that includes questions organized into four research areas: conceptualization, design, implementation and efficacy. The research agenda is both a summary of the type of research that is lacking in the field and a call to action for submissions. 

“We thought it important to indicate what we need in the field of CBE and to let researchers know what sort of submissions would be most impactful,” said Thanos Patelis, managing editor of the journal and lead psychometrician at C3Be. 

“CBE experts and practitioners in higher education, K-12 and even in the military have said this is what they need, so submitting research to this journal will help the field immensely.”

Timeliness was an important factor in the creation of the journal. To that end, the journal will publish submissions as they are approved by the editorial board rather than on a set publishing timetable.

“We wanted to have timely output of this information and to make sure the information got out as soon as possible,” Patelis said. “We strive for a six-week turnaround time from submission to publication, but we are pushing to make it even sooner.”

Accessibility was another important consideration. With the help of KU Libraries, the journal was created to be open access in the hopes of receiving as many submissions as possible and for the work to have the greatest impact.

“We need to get the word out about the work that's happening in competency-based education, whether from K-12, higher education, or the workforce. Having an open access journal makes sense,” DeBacker said. “Research should be available to people, and you shouldn't have to search extensively or face barriers.”

Patelis said he wants any and all researchers and practitioners, including new researchers, to take the idea of open access to heart.

“I hope they can open up their work and not be intimidated by the thought of publishing in a journal or the peer review process. The research agenda is like an open house invitation,” Patelis said. “The more people we can get to publish, the more people are going to cite each other's work, and that's good for everyone.”

Researchers can submit work to the CBE Research Journal by registering with the journal and reviewing the submission preparation checklist.