Episode 413

full
Published on:

25th Jun 2025

Competency-Based Learning to Build a Growth Mindset for Students

Summary: Join C.T. and guest Miranda Thorman, Executive Director of East Bay Innovation Academy (EBIA) in Oakland, California, as they explore the transformative power of competency-based learning in a diverse, STEM-focused public charter school. This insightful conversation delves into how EBIA serves students from sixth through twelfth grade with a curriculum centered on project-based, hands-on learning that emphasizes real-world application over traditional testing.

Key Takeaways:

  • Competency-Based Learning: This approach flips traditional education by focusing on students mastering skills and concepts to apply them in real-world, novel projects rather than just preparing for tests, fostering deeper engagement and relevance.
  • Growth Mindset and Allowing Failure: Students are encouraged to learn at their own pace and are allowed to fail and retry, mirroring real-world learning and promoting a growth mindset among both students and staff.
  • Project-Based, Hands-On Curriculum: Across subjects, students engage in meaningful projects—such as debates or building scale models—that require applying knowledge, making learning active and connected to real challenges.
  • Diverse, STEM-Focused Community: EBIA serves a highly diverse student population with a strong emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math, including career pathways with internships and work-based learning.
  • Formative and Summative Assessments: The school uses frequent formative assessments with feedback to guide learning, culminating in summative demonstrations of competency, which may differ from traditional grading systems.
  • Challenges of Systemic Change: Implementing competency-based education within traditional school structures involves navigating entrenched systems like grade levels and standardized testing, requiring teacher training, coaching, and buy-in.
  • Personalization and Real-World Preparation: Competency-based models support personalized learning paths and prepare students for college and careers by building portfolios of demonstrated skills applicable beyond school.


Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Competency-Based Learning

00:44 Meet Miranda Thorman

01:11 Overview of East Bay Innovation Academy

01:52 STEM Focus and Project-Based Learning

03:47 Competency-Based Learning Explained

07:07 Implementing Competency-Based Learning

14:07 Challenges and Teacher Preparation

16:15 Competency vs Traditional Models

25:29 Student and Family Transition

29:07 Growth Mindset and Final Thoughts


Connect with CT: linkedin.com/in/cheetung

Connect with Miranda Thorman: linkedin.com/in/miranda-thorman-0835a9292



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About the Podcast

Principal Office Hours
Real principals. Real talk. No hall passes required.
Finally—a podcast that proves school principals have personalities (and killer insights, too). Every week, join us for candid conversations with K-12 principals who are navigating the beautiful chaos of educational leadership without losing their minds or sense of humor.

Each 40-minute episode features real principals sharing what actually works in school leadership—from handling helicopter parents and budget nightmares to building school culture that doesn't make everyone roll their eyes. Consider this your professional development that doesn't feel like professional development.

Our guests aren't afraid to share their epic fails alongside their victories. They'll tell you about the initiative that spectacularly bombed during assembly, right before revealing how they turned their school's reading scores around. It's educational leadership with the BS filter turned off.

Whether you're currently wearing the principal badge, aspiring to the big chair, or teaching while secretly taking notes on what you'd do differently, Principal Office Hours delivers actionable strategies you can implement faster than a student being sent to detention.

Subscribe now and join the faculty lounge conversation that's too real for the school board meeting. New episodes drop every week. Warning: May cause spontaneous leadership growth and occasional inappropriate laughter during staff meetings.

About your hosts

CheeTung Leong

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Jim Kanichirayil

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Your friendly neighborhood talent strategy nerd is the producer and co-host for The HR Impact Show. He's spent his career in sales and has been typically in startup b2b HRTech and TA-Tech organizations.

He's built high-performance sales teams throughout his career and is passionate about all things employee life cycle and especially employee retention and turnover.