East Texas Center for Competency-Based Education
Transforming Higher Education
The East Texas Center for Competency-Based Education advances the design, quality, and growth of competency-based education (CBE) for institutions across Texas and the nation, anchored by nearly a decade of CBE practice at East Texas A&M University.
East Texas A&M launched its first competency-based degree programs in 2015 and has since built one of the most established CBE operations in the country.
The College of Innovation and Design (CID), the university’s home for competency-based education, now serves more than 1,800 students each seven-week term across 11 fully online undergraduate and graduate programs. That is not a pilot or an experiment. It is a decade of enrollment cycles, program launches, quality reviews, and hard lessons about what makes CBE work at scale.
The East Texas Center for Competency-Based Education exists to put that experience to work. The Center brings together faculty and academic leaders to strengthen CBE practice at East Texas A&M, support institutions across the Texas A&M University System, and partner with colleges and universities nationally that are designing, launching, or improving competency-based programs.The Center was approved by the Texas A&M University System following East Texas A&M’s institutional proposal and builds directly on the university’s decade of CBE program experience.
What the Center Does
- Builds CBE capacity across East Texas A&M. The Center partners with colleges across the university to develop, launch, and grow competency-based programs, extending CBE beyond its home in the College of Innovation and Design.
- Shares tested CBE resources. Course frameworks, competency maps, rubrics, and onboarding materials developed through a decade of program operation are organized and shared with institutions and programs exploring competency-based education. These are working documents refined through use, not templates built in the abstract.
- Convenes CBE leaders. The Center hosts and participates in events that build collaboration and shared knowledge, including CBE Preview Day for institutions exploring competency-based models and the Texas A&M System Community of Practice for CBE program development.
- Advances CBE research and quality standards. Center-affiliated faculty contribute to the field through research, conference presentations, publications, and participation in national quality assurance initiatives.
- Guides institutions building CBE programs. Drawing on East Texas A&M’s experience designing and operating programs at scale, the Center consults with colleges and universities developing or expanding their own competency-based pathways.
Purpose
Texas higher education faces a familiar set of pressures: adult learners with some college credit but no degree, workforce needs that move faster than traditional degree timelines, and rural communities that need flexible, high-quality pathways into in-demand careers.
East Texas A&M’s CBE programs were built to answer these pressures directly, allowing students to advance based on demonstrated mastery rather than time spent in a classroom.
Over nearly a decade, those programs have generated something harder to build than any single degree: institutional knowledge about what makes CBE work, where it breaks, and how to sustain quality at scale. The East Texas Center for CBE exists so that knowledge doesn’t stay contained to one institution. The Center gives that experience a structure for sharing, a name for partnership, and a foundation for continued growth.
Work with the Center
Whether your institution is exploring competency-based education for the first time or scaling an existing program, the Center can help. Reach out to start the conversation.
Dr. April Sanders, Dean of the College of Innovation and Design, directs the Center and oversees East Texas A&M’s competency-based education programs.
