Competency education offers promise and peril for students

 If you drive around Lindsay, Calif., on a weekday evening, you’ll notice kids clustered together in what seem to be random locations — sitting under trees or on curbs — and typing away on laptops.

What brings these young people to those spots? Somewhere nearby, you’re sure to find a school. And while that school may not be open, its Wi-Fi signal is available 24/7 to any student who wants to log in and study.

Lindsay Unified School District in California’s fertile San Joaquin Valley exemplifies the promise of competency education (or performance-based education, as it is called locally). Since beginning its transition to the model in 2009, discipline problems have dropped sharply, the school climate has improved dramatically (as measured by the California Healthy Kids Survey), academic achievement has climbed slowly but steadily, and kids have grown accustomed to the idea that learning can happen just about anytime and anywhere — even on a Friday evening while sitting under a tree.