California’s community colleges are experimenting with a radical new model of education, but some professors are pushing back. Faculty at Madera Community College have become the most vocal opposition, though issues with the new education model have popped up across the state.

In the new model, known as competency-based education, students don’t receive grades and they don’t have to attend class. They learn at their own pace and can finish the course whenever they can prove that they’ve mastered the requisite skill or “competency.” Advocates, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, have called for more competency-based learning, saying that it’s an opportunity to help employers and get older adults who lack a college degree back to school. Similar models already exist in other states, at Calbright College, the state’s all-online community college, and at many private and for-profit institutions.

Starting these programs isn’t easy. In many cases, it means changing a college’s accreditation, its employee contracts, and its financial aid system. Those changes require faculty input, and some professors say it’s too much, too soon. 

In 2021, California lawmakers approved more than $4 million to expand the competency-based model to eight community colleges, including Madera Community College, by the 2024-25 academic year.