Project-based Competency-based Anywhere-Anytime Student-centered Beacon

Learning

Bring Learning to Light

Beacon liberates learning from traditional structures, providing an easy-to-learn and flexible system for educators to embrace learner-centered approaches, communicate progress, and track what truly matters.

With Beacon, you can say goodbye to old-school systems that constrain tracking to pre-set categories like age, time, and courses, and welcome competency-based, project-based, anywhere/anytime learning. And Beacon is customized—by design—to fit your needs, goals, and way of doing things.

Drawing from a decade of experience working with dozens of schools and districts, we built Beacon because we understand your journey and want to help you bring learning to light.

Real Problems our Customers have Solved with Beacon:

We want to move from standards-based grading to competency-based progressions – but without the whiplash.

PROBLEM: We are transitioning from standards-based grading to competency-based progressions but don’t want to change everything all at once. Our current platform only allows us to use one scale. Can we track both standards on a 4-point scale and competency progressions on a 6 point scale until we make our full transition?

SOLUTION: Yes! Beacon allows you to track multiple types of learning targets (e.g., standards, competencies, badges) on a wide variety of scales (e.g., 1-4, 1-6, 1-12, Met/Not Met, Complete, Emergent/Developing/Proficient/Advanced, checkmark, emoji badging).

Our current system can’t track progress over time.

PROBLEM: We are implementing our Portrait of a Graduate competencies across our K-12 district. We want to be able to track progress and growth in the competencies across learning experiences and teachers. Our current system does not track progress and growth over time. Can Beacon help us?

SOLUTION: Yes! Beacon was built to be learner-centered which allows all ratings for all competencies to go into the learner portfolio regardless of where it happened and who rated it. Tracking progress and growth over time is one of Beacon’s most important and unique features, allowing you to see how a learner has progressed on the competencies across their entire learning journey.

We need to better explain progress but also translate back to legacy systems.

PROBLEM: We have been doing competency-based education for years but still are struggling to effectively communicate learning to our students and families. We also need to convert our non-traditional learning back to traditional courses and grades in high school. We are close to giving up. Can you help?

SOLUTION: Yes! We know how hard it is to live in both the innovative and traditional worlds and how important it is to make sure students and families transparently and easily understand how each student is performing and, in high school, whether they are on track to graduate. Beacon helps you translate your student-centered and competency-based learning models back to traditional metrics when needed and provides you with customizable progress reports so you can clearly and effectively communicate progress and growth to students and families in real time.

We want to capture learning wherever and whenever it happens.

PROBLEM: Our students are learning so much outside of school and we have no way to capture this learning so that it “counts” for students. Our current system does not have a way for students to add evidence from learning outside of our teacher-led learning experiences or courses. Can Beacon solve this problem?

SOLUTION: Yes! We believe learning does happen everywhere and we want students to be able to capture that learning to be evaluated and counted. Beacon allows students to upload any type of evidence and choose an evaluator to validate their learning and add it to their portfolio so that it counts towards progress and credit.

We have our own way of doing things. Can Beacon adapt to us?

PROBLEM: We want to be able to organize learning and learners in nontraditional ways (e.g., levels of autonomy, badges, mixed-age groupings). We can’t seem to find a system that accommodates our unique levels. Can Beacon work for us?

SOLUTION: Yes! Beacon allows you to configure your levels in any way you can imagine them! Our unique levels and portfolio system allow you to replace traditional time-, age-, and course-based structures in new and innovative ways to support learner-centered models.

We’re not a school, but we have a lot of learning we want to track.

PROBLEM: We are not a school but we want to track skill development over time for industry readiness or certification (e.g. CTE program, workforce development, durable skills). Can we do this in Beacon?

SOLUTION: Yes! In Beacon, you can upload and track skills for any area of development. You can organize learning in “portfolios” where learners upload evidence that demonstrates their readiness for each skill.

Learner-Driven

Learners can create tasks within projects or learning experiences, add evidence to their portfolios aligned to skills, and choose an evaluator to give them feedback and validate their learning.

Transparent view of the process and products of learning

Learners can view all of their tasks, where they are in the process of learning, feedback, skills they are working on, ratings for skills, and can upload the evidence or products of their learning. Task statuses help learners manage their time and work.

Track and monitor progress and growth over time

Tracks and stores all skill ratings for the entire learning journey so that progress and growth on skills can be measured over time.

Flexible and customizable configurations + Easy start-up

Supports competencies, standards, experiences and any other learning targets. You can create your own scales to evaluate each set of targets. Flexible levels allow you to reimagine learning outside of grade levels, such as by mixed-age groupings, autonomy levels, and readiness levels. Customizable competency standards frameworks available to get you started.

Everyone is a Learner

Provide a personalized learning experience for adult learners in addition to students. Create coherence with the learning of all learners in the system

We don’t like to brag, but we’re changing the game

“Beacon makes monitoring student progress a breeze. The platform is user-friendly for both teachers and students!”
Patty H.Teacher

“I love how it converts everything into credits because you have to live in two educational worlds. We need to show credit attainment for the traditional reporting systems, but we also need actual growth on skills and a growth mindset, particularly since some kids that come in have not been in school for 2 or 3 years.”
Sue P.Principal

“Beacon's flexibility lets us rethink how students engage in school, allowing us to create learning experiences based on students' needs. Having searched far and wide for a tracking system (and LMS) that was student- and educator-friendly, Beacon is a gift!”
Holly O.Instructional Coach

FAQs

Who created Beacon?

Beacon was created by Building 21, a nonprofit organization based in Philadelphia. For the past 10 years, we have helped 50+ schools and programs (28,000+ students and 1000+ teachers) reimagine learning by providing coaching, support, and technology solutions. Based on this work and years of feedback gathered from students, teachers, and families, Beacon was created to solve the most common obstacles as well as enable schools and programs to realize their vision for personalized learning.

What are the systems requirements for Beacon?

Beacon is a web-based application best used on a laptop or desktop device and is supported by all major operating systems and web browsers. For an optimal viewing experience, the recommended screen resolution is 1366×768 or higher. Beacon has also been optimized for tablet devices (e.g. iPad) to allow for seamless capturing of evidence from the tablet camera. On a mobile device, learners are able to view tasks and upload evidence using a browser app.

Does Beacon work with other systems?

Building 21 provides a data warehouse service with every Beacon license. This allows us to integrate with many 3rd party systems (e.g. PowerSchool, Infinite Campus, Blackbaud, FACTS, Google Drive, Remind). Also, Building 21 has partnered with the Mastery Transcript Consortium to provide a direct integration between Beacon and the Transcript/Learner Record.

How much does it cost?

There is a one-time setup fee and an annual licensing fee. These fees are customized according to the size of the school or program and based on the level of support needed. Because Building 21 is a nonprofit, we measure success based on impact and learner outcomes instead of revenue and profit. This allows us to provide competitive pricing to make our platform as affordable as possible.

I have questions. Who can I speak with?

Beacon is VERY flexible. We are here to help. Contact us by filling out this form and sign up for a free demo and consultation to see how Beacon can help!