Educational leaders and policymakers are reconsidering the role of competency-based education (CBE) to meet the needs of all students, address issues of equity and enduring achievement gaps, and demonstrate college and career readiness outcomes for PK-12 students. This study sought to understand the policy conditions where CBE policies were adopted in two neighboring states as well as describe the two states’ implementation plans for policy diffusion. The study used a comparative case study design to study Idaho and Utah due to their geographic proximity, socioeconomic status, and state legislative structures. We argue that although the policies in both states have many similarities and were passed under similar political conditions within each state’s policy arena, the planned implementation and diffusion of those policies was very different and influenced a divergent population of local education agencies (LEA) in each state. We also explore the role intermediary organizations played in the development and diffusion of policy in both states.

教育领导者和政策制定者正在重新考虑基于能力的教育 (CBE) 的作用，以满足所有学生的需求，解决公平和持久的成就差距问题，并展示 PK-12 学生的大学和职业准备成果。本研究旨在了解两个相邻州采用 CBE 政策的政策条件，并描述两个州的政策扩散实施计划。该研究使用比较案例研究设计来研究爱达荷州和犹他州，因为它们的地理邻近性、社会经济地位和州立法结构。我们认为，虽然两个州的政策有许多相似之处，并且在每个州的政策领域内都是在相似的政治条件下通过的，这些政策的计划实施和传播非常不同，并影响了每个州不同的地方教育机构 (LEA)。我们还探讨了中介组织在这两个州的政策制定和传播中所发挥的作用。