The Pattonville School District was one of seven school districts and groups to receive funds from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)’s Competency-Based Education (CBE) grant program. Of the more than $2.2 million available, Pattonville received $334,000. The maximum amount available to a single applicant was $400,000, with only three districts receiving more than Pattonville.

CBE allows students to advance based on their ability to master a skill or competency at their own pace. The grant will allow Pattonville to continue to strengthen work related to CBE, including focusing on student agency, developing personalized learning pathways and helping students understand who they are as learners. Funds from the grant will support staff professional development, including sending staff to conferences focused on CBE and personalized learning and deepening work with learning cohorts, such as the Institute for Personalized Learning (I4PL). 

Other grant recipients were the school districts of Lebanon, Maplewood-Richmond Heights, Ritenour, Sedalia and Ste. Genevieve, as well as the Success-Ready Students Network, a group consisting of 28 educational agencies, including Pattonville, that supports the creation of a more meaningful way to measure student learning, demonstrate individual student growth and influence future success for all Missouri students.

“These grants provide local educators more opportunities to best meet the unique needs of their students,” said Margie Vandeven, DESE’s commissioner of education. “Competency-based education programs are truly student-centered, making learning the constant in the equation, and seat time the variable — knowing some students will master certain concepts faster than others.”