There is a movement whereby students don't attend traditional schools and earn report cards. The alternative to traditional learning is called, "proficiency based grading." It disseminates authority for grades to a computer program rather than a teacher. It is a set of qualifying MODULES that a student needs to reach 70 percent proficiency to move to the next module.
Maine was gung-ho with this stuff until parents started raising a fuss about understanding what their children were learning and how they received grades. The company involved in the Maine experiment is "JumpRope" (click here). The coordinator for the program is unable to explain the program because he doesn't exactly understand it either.
Perhaps the Education Secretary should have a degree in education.
January 9, 2019
By Kelley Bouchard
South Portland — The city’s public schools (click here) will change parts of a controversial proficiency-based grading system that has drawn strong criticism from parents, students and teachers here and across Maine.
Superintendent Ken Kunin announced the pending changes last weekend in an email to the high school community that followed increasing complaints and emotional testimony at a recent school board meeting.
The district will drop a 1-4 grading system at South Portland High School that replaced a traditional A-F grading system four years ago. The current grading system was part of the district’s incomplete move toward issuing proficiency-based diplomas, a state mandate passed in 2012 that the Legislature dropped last year.
School staff members have been reviewing the 1-4 grading system for the past several months, prompted by concerns about its accuracy, fairness, unexplainable calculations, complex reporting requirements and lack of nuance in reflecting individual students’ abilities, especially college-bound seniors....
...On its website, JumpRope says Power Law grading “is based on research on cognitive development” and “more closely represents true student learning progress. However, it is more difficult for students to understand or teachers to predict because the formula is very complex.”...
...School board Chairman Dick Matthews said he can’t explain the grading system and he’s tired of trying.
“It’s just not working for us,” Matthews said. “I welcome the change.”...
...The district pays $26,000 a year for JumpRope’s “learning management system,” Kunin said. Whether it will continue to use JumpRope remains to be seen. The district will be seeking a grading system that works for teachers, students and parents, he said....
The way the US Department of Education explains "proficiency based learning" is that it personalizes education. Another name for this mess is "competency based learning" whereby each student moves at their own pace.
...By enabling students to master skills at their own pace, (click here) competency-based learning systems help to save both time and money. Depending on the strategy pursued, competency-based systems also create multiple pathways to graduation, make better use of technology, support new staffing patterns that utilize teacher skills and interests differently, take advantage of learning opportunities outside of school hours and walls, and help identify opportunities to target interventions to meet the specific learning needs of students. Each of these presents an opportunity to achieve greater efficiency and increase productivity....
...Big Picture Learning School – This model seeks to provide a personalized learning experience that challenges and supports students, engages families in the learning process, and encourages students to take ownership over their own education. Each student works with an academic advisor and their parents to develop an individual learning plan that addresses their needs, skills, and interests....
