District encounters challenges with new "proficiency-based" education program
BY ABAGAIL KOVACS
New to the SAD6 District this year is a state-mandated educational system which has sparked almost as much controversy as it has confusion. As described by the Maine Department of Education, the new program, Proficiency-Based Education, or PBE, is “any system of academic instruction, assessment, grading or reporting that is based on students demonstrating mastery of skills before progressing to the next grade level or receiving a diploma.” Essentially, students will have to prove they understand material before being allowed to graduate through the completion of summative assessments. For Bonny Eagle, this means no final exams and a great deal more grading rubrics rating assessments with a 1, 2, 3, or 4. Students will also be able to re-do any “summative” activity, ensuring they can meet the standard.
According to the board of directors and their “Five Year Education Plan,” PBE hopes to, “increase student engagement, and improve problem-solving, learning strategies, graduation rates, and preparedness for careers and college after graduation.” However, the responses of some students and teachers indicates that there is still uncertainty regarding how this method will really impact learning, especially given its lengthy five-year transition period.
So far this year, the program has already experienced several major changes regarding how it will be applied, and the transition has left many students wondering how their scores and GPA’s will change, while teachers write and rewrite their grading rubrics.
“I think that the adjustment period will be for quite some time. We’re implementing something that is very different from what we were doing prior, and transitions of that nature take a while for all of the wrinkles to be ironed out,” explained Lab Biology teacher Mr. Brett Levin. “I’t’s a learning process for all of us.”
Many students are critical of the changes. “It’s really confusing having different grading systems for different classes,” said sophomore Carolyn Mains. “You can’t just grade things in English, for example, the same way you’d grade a math test with 20 right or wrong questions on it. You can’t use the same rubric for qualitative and quantitative assessments.”
Additional concerns have arisen regarding a student’s ability to “exceed” the standard and get a 100 if grades are relegated to a 1, 2, 3, or 4, with a single numerical grade such as a 60, 75, 85, or 100 allotted to each one.
“If I pass in a well-written essay that covers everything in a rubric, and involves a lot more thought than asked for, I shouldn’t be given the same grade as someone who passes in a one-page essay covering the rubric and a few extra things,” maintains Mains. “In math, how do you exceed the standard? If I’m given a quiz with 15 questions and I meet the standard and answer them all correctly, how do I reach a 100%? Do I have to come up with another 20 problems? If that’s not how that works then why aren’t “the standards” standard?”
Mr. Paul Penna, BEHS principal, explains: “The whole idea of having a numeric connection with the standard is really a flaw … Next year, we won’t use a conversion. Students will just get a 1, 2, 3, or 4…”
He also asserts that “It doesn’t matter how you compare to the student; it matters how you compare to the standard.”
In the meantime, these adjustments are costing money. According to current allocated staff development funds outlined in the Five-Year Plan, the cost to implement PBE (including course reimbursement and staff development) is approximately $334,552.
“Unfortunately questions about ongoing decisions about PBE, when it will be fully implemented, and the cost factor; are largely out of our local control,” explains MSAD6 Vice-Chairman, Mr. Jake Stoddard. “The Maine Department of Education, through the direction of the Legislature, chose to head in this direction. However, decisions are still being made regarding PBE in Augusta, and we are left without answers for students, teachers, and the public.”
Some say that the new system has actually hurt them academically, because right now, teachers are only required to cover material up to a three, while students must get to a four to reach a 100.
“I feel that sometimes I am not getting the grade I deserve because the four is either too hard or they can’t tell you how to get there which makes it even more difficult,” says sophomore Amber Nelson.
“The new standards have made school so tedious,” agrees Mains. “It’s made it harder to focus on what we’re learning because you’re expected to know more than you’re taught. I’m all for striving to do better but for those of us who are already taking honors classes, AP classes, and extracurricular activities, it’s made it impossible to juggle everything. It’s forced me to give up things I loved so I could have time to sleep after draining every bit of energy I had teaching myself whatever it [took] to get a 4.”
In addition to purely academic struggles, some say that PBE has limited their creative expression and passion for learning.
“The fact that assignments need to meet a cookie-cutter standard make work incredibly critical, and boring in a way,” asserts sophomore Christopher Hascall. “The passion for writing an essay is gone, replaced by the idea that the final product from everyone should look incredibly similar. All in all, it feels like individuality is being taken away from the students, a move that can only be destructive.”
Also left out of the new system? GPAs; or at least traditional ones. Because students will no longer have standard numerical values for assignments, it means new calculations as well.
“At the end of the day, students will have a GPA,” assured Mr. Penna, “it’s just going to be calculated differently than it is now. It’s going to be calculated closer to what they’re doing in school.”
How exactly this will be done remains unclear, but Mr. Penna explains that “Colleges see transcripts from all over the place. So they know they will get very different things.”
As of now, it appears that Bonny Eagle is in the midst of a massive educational reformation, and in spite of Administers’ hopes that the transition will be seamless, people are worried.
“We’re changing from something that people are used to, and in situations like that, change isn’t always welcomed,” says Mr. Levin. “Good science takes time, and changing anything is essentially like conducting an experiment. We won’t know how it’s truly impacted our educational system until we’ve implemented it completely, hammered out the kinks and consistently done it for a significant amount of time so that we have data to analyze.”
"Standards is just making work harder on students who have already been trying… and making it easier for those students who haven’t ever tried,” explains Mains. “It shouldn’t be so impossible to fail a class. The pressure of failing is the only thing that pushes a lot of people, [yet] with standards, homework means nothing as long as you can skate through summative assessments. We’ve eliminated the challenge for people who need to be challenged and we’ve made it more tedious for the people who were already challenging themselves in the first place.”
Whatever the difference in opinion, one thing remains clear for Bonny Eagle: no matter what standards are used, no matter the innovation, a conveyor belt model in which students are hurried along without true comprehension limits student achievement in fundamental ways.
“You can't standardize the minds of students,” said Hascall. “It's difficult to treat everyone differently, but it's necessary... Forcing students into these shapes is only going to give us mediocre test scores and extremely stressed high schoolers.”
For now, however, it appears Bonny Eagle students will have to cope with the system. “We will have data eventually as we move forward,” said Mr. Penna. “I believe this system has built-in safety nets that will force students to do better.”
According to the board of directors and their “Five Year Education Plan,” PBE hopes to, “increase student engagement, and improve problem-solving, learning strategies, graduation rates, and preparedness for careers and college after graduation.” However, the responses of some students and teachers indicates that there is still uncertainty regarding how this method will really impact learning, especially given its lengthy five-year transition period.
So far this year, the program has already experienced several major changes regarding how it will be applied, and the transition has left many students wondering how their scores and GPA’s will change, while teachers write and rewrite their grading rubrics.
“I think that the adjustment period will be for quite some time. We’re implementing something that is very different from what we were doing prior, and transitions of that nature take a while for all of the wrinkles to be ironed out,” explained Lab Biology teacher Mr. Brett Levin. “I’t’s a learning process for all of us.”
Many students are critical of the changes. “It’s really confusing having different grading systems for different classes,” said sophomore Carolyn Mains. “You can’t just grade things in English, for example, the same way you’d grade a math test with 20 right or wrong questions on it. You can’t use the same rubric for qualitative and quantitative assessments.”
Additional concerns have arisen regarding a student’s ability to “exceed” the standard and get a 100 if grades are relegated to a 1, 2, 3, or 4, with a single numerical grade such as a 60, 75, 85, or 100 allotted to each one.
“If I pass in a well-written essay that covers everything in a rubric, and involves a lot more thought than asked for, I shouldn’t be given the same grade as someone who passes in a one-page essay covering the rubric and a few extra things,” maintains Mains. “In math, how do you exceed the standard? If I’m given a quiz with 15 questions and I meet the standard and answer them all correctly, how do I reach a 100%? Do I have to come up with another 20 problems? If that’s not how that works then why aren’t “the standards” standard?”
Mr. Paul Penna, BEHS principal, explains: “The whole idea of having a numeric connection with the standard is really a flaw … Next year, we won’t use a conversion. Students will just get a 1, 2, 3, or 4…”
He also asserts that “It doesn’t matter how you compare to the student; it matters how you compare to the standard.”
In the meantime, these adjustments are costing money. According to current allocated staff development funds outlined in the Five-Year Plan, the cost to implement PBE (including course reimbursement and staff development) is approximately $334,552.
“Unfortunately questions about ongoing decisions about PBE, when it will be fully implemented, and the cost factor; are largely out of our local control,” explains MSAD6 Vice-Chairman, Mr. Jake Stoddard. “The Maine Department of Education, through the direction of the Legislature, chose to head in this direction. However, decisions are still being made regarding PBE in Augusta, and we are left without answers for students, teachers, and the public.”
Some say that the new system has actually hurt them academically, because right now, teachers are only required to cover material up to a three, while students must get to a four to reach a 100.
“I feel that sometimes I am not getting the grade I deserve because the four is either too hard or they can’t tell you how to get there which makes it even more difficult,” says sophomore Amber Nelson.
“The new standards have made school so tedious,” agrees Mains. “It’s made it harder to focus on what we’re learning because you’re expected to know more than you’re taught. I’m all for striving to do better but for those of us who are already taking honors classes, AP classes, and extracurricular activities, it’s made it impossible to juggle everything. It’s forced me to give up things I loved so I could have time to sleep after draining every bit of energy I had teaching myself whatever it [took] to get a 4.”
In addition to purely academic struggles, some say that PBE has limited their creative expression and passion for learning.
“The fact that assignments need to meet a cookie-cutter standard make work incredibly critical, and boring in a way,” asserts sophomore Christopher Hascall. “The passion for writing an essay is gone, replaced by the idea that the final product from everyone should look incredibly similar. All in all, it feels like individuality is being taken away from the students, a move that can only be destructive.”
Also left out of the new system? GPAs; or at least traditional ones. Because students will no longer have standard numerical values for assignments, it means new calculations as well.
“At the end of the day, students will have a GPA,” assured Mr. Penna, “it’s just going to be calculated differently than it is now. It’s going to be calculated closer to what they’re doing in school.”
How exactly this will be done remains unclear, but Mr. Penna explains that “Colleges see transcripts from all over the place. So they know they will get very different things.”
As of now, it appears that Bonny Eagle is in the midst of a massive educational reformation, and in spite of Administers’ hopes that the transition will be seamless, people are worried.
“We’re changing from something that people are used to, and in situations like that, change isn’t always welcomed,” says Mr. Levin. “Good science takes time, and changing anything is essentially like conducting an experiment. We won’t know how it’s truly impacted our educational system until we’ve implemented it completely, hammered out the kinks and consistently done it for a significant amount of time so that we have data to analyze.”
"Standards is just making work harder on students who have already been trying… and making it easier for those students who haven’t ever tried,” explains Mains. “It shouldn’t be so impossible to fail a class. The pressure of failing is the only thing that pushes a lot of people, [yet] with standards, homework means nothing as long as you can skate through summative assessments. We’ve eliminated the challenge for people who need to be challenged and we’ve made it more tedious for the people who were already challenging themselves in the first place.”
Whatever the difference in opinion, one thing remains clear for Bonny Eagle: no matter what standards are used, no matter the innovation, a conveyor belt model in which students are hurried along without true comprehension limits student achievement in fundamental ways.
“You can't standardize the minds of students,” said Hascall. “It's difficult to treat everyone differently, but it's necessary... Forcing students into these shapes is only going to give us mediocre test scores and extremely stressed high schoolers.”
For now, however, it appears Bonny Eagle students will have to cope with the system. “We will have data eventually as we move forward,” said Mr. Penna. “I believe this system has built-in safety nets that will force students to do better.”
