Editor’s note: This commentary is by George C. Cross, who is a retired educator and legislator. He is the former chair of the Community High School of Vermont State Board.
I guess, if you have to label me, I am a retired educator and legislator who who enjoys more time in his woodworking shop.
[W]hat the devil is “proficient”? According to Webster, here’s what it is: “proficient, n. A person skilled in any business, art, science or branch of learning; an expert – adj. Well-skilled, versed, adept.” So how does this relate to the Smarter Balanced Assessment?
Somehow, some place, someone, or maybe several someones, decided that “x” number of correct responses on a test, now called an “assessment,” results in being “proficient.” Of course, the major problem with this “proficient” is that it is not transparent, is devoid of definition, and is little more than political-educational babble!
Let’s back up a bit. In the 1940s-’50s, there were a few different achievement tests used in this country’s schools. Three of the most popular, at least in the Northeast, were the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, the California Achievement Tests, and the Stanford Achievement Tests. Even though they have been in existence now for about 80 years, all three are still being used in various places around the country. Each of these instruments has gone through various iterations over time. The scoring mechanism for each has undoubtedly changed; yet each has a long history against which to weigh current levels of achievement.
What does the percentage of students who are identified as “proficient” tell us, when we have no idea what “proficient” means?
The point here is that there are off-the-shelf instruments which can provide us with the comparative data we need to evaluate how our students are doing. Instead, the political-educational community has decided to join the industrial-military complex to find additional and more expensive ways to spend taxpayers’ money. Why?
What does the percentage of students who are identified as “proficient” tell us, when we have no idea what “proficient” means? If “proficient” means “expert,” expert by what definition? Before we start clamoring for changes in how schools teach, based on the results of the latest fad assessment (darn, I almost said “test”), we need to be sure that everyone understands just what it means to be “proficient.” Before we condemn the public schools for the lack of proficient students, we need to ensure that parents, educators and citizens comprehend what is a proficient student. Before we ordain great success by our students on the recent Smarter Balanced Assessments (wow, what an impressive name), we need to be clear about what “proficient” means.
Now, there may be “experts,” some of debatable “proficiency,” from the political and educational worlds as well as from the general citizenry who will write that I am mistaken. They will write that the holy grail of assessing learning progress, educational achievement, teacher effectiveness, and each school’s value has been found. Its name says it all … Smarter Balanced Assessment. Clearly, it is “proficient,” as it is both “smarter” and “balanced.” I wonder if that is anything like “fair and balanced”?
Correction: The author is no longer on the board of the Community High School of Vermont as stated in an earlier version. He resigned that post last spring.
