Competencies
CEC Competencies for Advanced Skills
Competency is the specific synthesis of comprehension, behaviors, and actions a practitioner effectively demonstrates with consistent mastery within their professional practice.
A competency-based approach translates broad professional standards into observable applications, giving preparation programs, school districts, and individuals a detailed framework for preparing, supporting, and assessing practitioners in the field.
DEVELOPMENT CONSIDERATIONS:
- Align with evidence-based research
- Use “action verbs”
- Apply SMART goal criteria
Additional Support
Differentiated Purposes for Standards & Competencies
| Standards Purposes | Competencies Purposes |
|---|---|
| What should special educators know? | How do special educators apply professional knowledge? |
| What are the minimum expectations for novice teachers? | What does exemplary performance and mastery teaching look like? |
| What should be taught to pre-service teachers? | What expertise develops over time and transfers across professional areas? |
Standards & Competencies Descriptions by Features
| Feature | Standards | Competencies |
|---|---|---|
| Foundational Question | What does the educator know and need to do? | How does the educator apply what they know authentically? |
| Intent | Instructional objectives to guide learning activities and assessment of learning | Feedback, coaching, measuring growth across time |
| Design Concepts | Backward design focused on foundational units with an end target | Forward-facing and unifying practices that develop potential that is not time-bound |
| Blueprint (redesign, n.d.) | Organized by time blocks (i.e. objectives that span a semester course) | Evidence of learning/development without a set band of time |
| Implementation Tempo | Mastery-focused and timebound | Continual development post mastery level learning |
| Breadth/Depth | Discrete and discipline-specific content knowledge and skills | Broad, cross-curricular, and transferable across domains and employment positions |
| Evaluation | Content-specific and bound rating of performance | Longitudinal progression of authentic growth that is not time-bound; Performance based |
Comparison of Standards and Competencies
| Performance Based Standard | Potential Competency | |
|---|---|---|
| K-12 3.1 | Candidates apply their understanding of academic subject matter content of the general curriculum to inform their programmatic and instructional decisions for individuals with exceptionalities. (CEC, 2020a) | Candidates plan differentiated and universally designed instruction utilizing their knowledge general education academic subject matter. |
| EI/ECSE 6.5 | Candidates identify and create multiple opportunities for young children to develop and learn play skills and engage in meaningful play experiences independently and with others across contexts. (CEC, 2020b) | Early development professionals strategically plan for and provide multiple and meaningful individual and collaborative play experiences for young children to engage in and develop play skills. |
| Advanced Standards 7.2 | Special education specialists use collaborative skills to improve programs, services, and outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities. (CEC, 2025) | Education specialists collaboratively improve programs, services, and outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities. |
| Advanced Administrator 2.1 | Candidates comply with organizational by-laws and adhere to ethical guidelines governing the provision of programs and services for students with exceptionalities. (CEC, 2020) | Special education administrators govern and provide ethical and law aligning programs and services for students with exceptionalities. |
| Gifted Educators 4.4 | Candidates use qualitative and quantitative data and multiple sources to evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum, services, and programs for students with gifts and talents (CEC, 2024) | Gifted educators evaluate the effectiveness of curriculum, services, and programs through multiple data sources and including quantitative and qualitative data. |
Core Competencies for Special Education Paraeducators
Required knowledge and skills all paraeducators need to safely and effectively support students with disabilities in K-12 settings.
Core Competencies for Transitions Specialists
View the seven essential competencies and components that guide professional practice of secondary special education transition specialists and teachers in supporting successful and equitable transitions for students and youth with disabilities and their families.
Last Updated:
26 August, 2026