Proficiency, and all that jazz

Publisher's Memo

All through my elementary school years, and into the I Oth grade, I attended public schools, first in Utica and then in Buffalo, NY. Elementary school was easy for me and, when we received our final grades, I'd usually be at the top of the class.

I don't say this to be boastful, but to make a point which I'll get to in a moment.

My first year in high school was equally easy - too easy? - and that's when my parents began to look at boarding schools.

I became excited at the prospect, but the search made me realize I wasn't as smart as I thought I was. The crowning blow came when the Massachusetts school I really wanted to attend said I'd be accepted, but only if I repeated my first year of high school.

Other schools responded in similar fashion but finally Nichols School in Buffalo (a well-regarded private school for boys, but not a boarding school) said it would give me a chance. So, with a scholarship and great excitement, I entered the 10th grade.

My first impression was that I'd died and gone to heaven; nothing on earth, I thought, could be this good. A school that was all boys, an English teacher who coached football, a science teacher who coached basketball and a French teacher who coached ice hockey. Cool.

The fact that my new French teacher, a graduate of Harvard, not only played a mean game of ice hockey but was assistant football coach, convinced me his French class would be a blast. And it was - until he gave me a 55 on my first test. So much for the good guys. I was mad - at me, at him. This was fun?

So, my life changed - drastically. I studied hard, did my homework and each night, for at least an hour, sat with my mother as we talked and read French. I had become a grind.

In those days there were no standardized tests, no slogans or programs called "No Child Left Behind." There was no Federal aid to education and today's penchant to test and test and test wasn't even a blip on the horizon.

Today, however, we're living in a world of measurement gone wild. Education Week, in its seventh annual report on education, titled "Quality Counts" (January 9, 2003), reported that its research team, on a state-by-state basis, was tracking "an expansive set of policies related to standards, testing, accountability, teacher quality, school climate and education resources." That adds up to a total of six complicated ways to check the proficiency of teachers and kids. In this new world of accountability and testing, that word, "proficiency," is being used to lump kids and teachers into categories. Although the measurers are trying to be fair, it's too easy to pour a bunch of proficiency measurements into the pot, take an average and say, "That's not good enough."

(An off-the-top-of-my-head example: The kid may be a spectacular jazz musician, but lousy in math. So, overall...50% proficient?)

Today, would my 55 in French impact anyone's proficiency rating? Who - or what school -- would get a failing grade (besides me)?

Well, you and the other teachers who read this magazine know how to cope, know how to teach and know that reason will prevail. So, hang in there and - because we need you in your classrooms - don't let `em getcha!

Copyright Early Years, Inc. Mar 2003
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