About Us

Vision

To empower every student in the world to unleash the best person they can BE

Mission

To increase job & life readiness of students 13-21 years old by evaluating and developing their 21st century competencies online

Founder Story: Michaela Horvathova, Chief Education Officer

Dear student, parent, headmaster,

From growing up in Slovakia, to my studies at Harvard University, and finally to my position today at BE I’ve always been convinced that I had the power to accomplish great things in life despite not being the best student at school.

Fortunately I had the chance to develop this confidence thanks to my parents but playing tennis semi-professionally taught me more than I could have imagined. It developed my physical abilities, but also my growth mindset, leadership, courage, and resilience. I realized that those competencies were not only important in school but also in my day-to-day life and future jobs.

Michaela Horvathova Co Founder Beyond Education

I decided to focus on the research-based approach to these competencies during my studies and when I was working at the OECD on the Education 2030 project. I became a part of the Center for Curriculum Redesign which identified the 12 essential competencies needed to thrive in the 21st century which convinced me that this was the key I had been looking for to unleash the potential of young people across the world.

Today, along with a team of education experts, I’m very happy to be able to offer you the first online interactive and innovative training aimed at assessing and developing those key 21st century competencies, the "transferable competencies" or "soft skills", for students from 13 to 21 years old.

Enjoy your journey with us and see you soon

Michaela

The Research-Based Approach

BE has an innovative research-based curriculum and assessment based on the Center for Curriculum Redesign (CCR)'s Four-Dimensional Education Framework.
What does this mean in concrete terms for BE's 2 products?

The Programs

Each session of each program is aimed to develop one specific competency. Thus, the 20-30 minute session is designed to develop one of the sub-competencies of the main competency . The sub-competencies are transformed into learning objective(s) for the individual session and adapted to the student’s level of development (from beginner to expert). 

The content of the sessions takes into account the latest research and empirical work on the targeted sub-competency.

The content and format of the programs in general are based on the latest research in the field of education, developmental psychology and  learning sciences.  All the program content is submitted for the rigorous evaluation  to the members of Beyond Education’s research department.

The quality of the sessions and programs are evaluated based on a mixed method approach, that is to say that they are based both on quantitative and qualitative analysis, thus the analysis of following measures: 

    • Quantitative analysis using the Beyond Education validated questionnaire the Competences Calculator or in is scientific name the 21st Compound Competences Inventory (CCI-21) and Competences Checkbox Inventory (CBI) to monitoring their progress on the competences which are targeted in each program
    • Qualitative analysis using answers to reflective questions included in every session, that assess student understanding of the sub-competency
    • Both Quantitative and qualitative analysis on students learning,  satisfaction and motivation to participate to those program  based on a questionnaire (quantitative) and an final interview (qualitative), as User Experience is a big part of a program success

The Competency Calculator

BE proposes a scientifically validated self-reporting assessment scale : The Competency Calculator (known in the scientific field as the 21st Century Competence Compound Inventory (CCI-21).  The Competency Calculator has a total of 36 items that allow us to verify whether and which educational programs improve 21st century competencies and enable improvement in several areas also measured by PISA. The students taking the CCI-21 will gain an insight into their level of 21st century competencies at a given point in time. For example, within a school it could be taken at the beginning and end of the academic year. In the BE programs, we track the evolution of students’ competencies by assessing their level at the beginning and end of each program .

Personalized report: After the students complete the program and the questionnaires, a personalized interactive report is handed to them to explain where their score stands regarding their 21st century competencies development. This report has two main parts:

1) a general 21st century competencies score description, where the student can understand their level of achievement in each of the 12 competencies evaluated, with suggestions in how to improve them;

2) a specific one that presents each of the sub-competencies that were developed during the program. A description of each of the sub competencies is offered to the student so they can understand the specific learnings they encountered during the program, as well as their level regarding these sub competencies.

Both The BE Programs and The Competency Calculator are aligned totally or partially with various PISA measurements and a couple of other known frameworks (Strengths ; The European Framework’s 8 Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, etc.)