"Oregon’s primary innovative education reform will be credit by proficiency."

There is a 10/22/09 document (here) from the Oregon Department of Education to the Oregon Board of Education laying out Oregon’s strategy for the federal “Race to the Top” funding.

First it states:

Oregon’s primary innovative education reform will be credit by proficiency.

Now “credit by proficiency” I think I can understand: take a test, or submit a project, or do something defined, and if your score is good enough, you get credit. It’s not about spending time in a class. It’s about demonstrating that you have a skill. So learning that skill could be self-paced. It need not even involve attending a class. It certainly could happen online. But I’m not sure that’s what the Department of Education means. Further from their document.

 It’s called proficiency-based instruction and assessment, sometimes credit for proficiency, sometimes just proficiency practice….

Oregon is one of the few states with policies that allow and encourage proficiency practice. Oregon’s lead in this innovation will make it a strong contender for Race to the Top funding. More importantly, this funding would give Oregon a tremendous boost in taking proficiency practice to scale in a way that helps it accomplish student outcomes coveted in Oregon education policy (especially 40-40-20 goals) and in Race to the Top criteria….

Features of proficiency-based education. Proficiency practice is geared directly to student achievement of standards. In a proficiency-based system, proficiencies that students must achieve are drawn from officially adopted standards, whether standards for core academic subjects, for essential skills, or for career-related skills and behaviors. Teachers adopt not only state standards but often college-success and international standards. Students start a course knowing exactly what proficiencies they need to master to demonstrate that they have acquired content knowledge and skills. They work at it at their own pace until they get it right. Students learn in a variety of ways and settings – individually and in groups, participation in projects, in and outside the classroom – under teacher guidance. Teachers use formative assessment at every step of the way to measure learning and to gauge and adjust instruction. When students demonstrate mastery of the required proficiencies, they are assessed and graded on that basis only. Inconsistent, arbitrary, and inflated grading across classrooms, schools, and districts goes away under proficiency-based education….

It is not clear to me how a teacher might manage a classroom of self-paced learners or what freedoms a student might have, for example, to skip the teacher’s classes and just prepare for a proficiency test on their own (or online). I’ll look for clarification. I do have some context for thinking about “credit for proficiency.” In 2007, the Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS) at the University of Oregon developed the “Oregon Roadmap to Language Excellence” which proposed shifting Oregon’s foreign language programs to a proficiency based system and spoke of expanding “the credit-for-proficiency program to languages.” From their report (here):

The Oregon Roadmap proposes no new requirements for students or schools. Instead, it offers rewards to students who demonstrate proficiency and support for educational institutions helping students to do so. This fundamentally differs from compliance-based policies. Rather than punishing those who fail to meet standards, the Oregon Roadmap proposes to reward those who do. Participation is entirely voluntary. Schools and universities, both public and private, who choose to focus on functional proficiency, will be given intellectual and financial resources to help them succeed. Students who succeed will be eligible for special scholarships, internships, and employment opportunities.

 And (here):

3. Credit for Proficiency

This program allows students to earn high school and college credit for demonstrated language performance. Students passing proficiency-testing requirements would be rewarded with credits needed for graduation at the high school and university levels. The Oregon Department of Education is already piloting a credit for proficiency program in various standardized subjects. Adding language to this offering is an excellent way to value heritage speakers, encouraging them to further develop already strong language skills into marketable assets. The goal is to offer proficiency tests at no charge or on a sliding scale. Students will be encouraged to further their language learning in university Language Flagship programs.

I liked the CASLS approach.Butr is the Oregon Roadmap for Language Excellence approach to “credit for proficiency” consistent with the Department of Education’s “credit by proficiency” proposal?

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