The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "Competencies" mean the rigorous, shared expectations for learning that encompass knowledge, skills, and abilities across grade levels. Competencies are broader than learning standards and may encompass multiple learning standards. Competencies are transparent, measurable, relevant, and transferable to multiple contexts.

(2)(a) "Competency-based education" means education that includes the following elements:

(i) Students are empowered daily to make important decisions about their learning experiences, how they will create and apply knowledge, and how they will demonstrate their learning;

(ii) Assessment is a meaningful, positive, and empowering learning experience for students that yields timely, relevant, and actionable evidence;

(iii) Students receive timely, differentiated support based on their individual learning needs;

(iv) Students progress based on evidence of mastery, not seat time;

(v) Students learn actively using different pathways and varied pacing;

(vi) Strategies to ensure equity for all students are embedded in the culture, structure, and pedagogy of schools and education systems; and

(vii) Rigorous, common expectations for learning, including knowledge, skills, and dispositions, are explicit, transparent, measurable, and transferable.

(b) "Mastery-based learning" has the same meaning as "competency-based education."