The competency-based grading and reporting model has been a part of one high school's improvement plan, writes principal Brian Stack. In this blog post, he notes five things that changed at his school in the three years since implementing the model. Among them are the formation of small learning communities for students and professional learning communities for teachers, the use of competency-based, common grading procedures and the reporting of student progress based on students' mastery of course-based competencies.