Proficiency Across States.

With the changes in the Executive Branch, NCLB will change, but how?  The Eduguru is continuing a series of blogs on the problems opponents have had with NCLB and what they might or should do about them now.

The fourth is politimetrics:  Proficiency across states.

The contrasts in definition of proficiency across the states has been one of the most fascinating aspects of NCLB.  States rights advocates applaud allowing each state to adopt its own standard.  Of course, NAEP is the only practical and available basis for judging relative difficulty of proficiency cut points.

Proficiency will be defined more normatively—across states—possibly demanding an alignment with NAEP.  This is not as difficult to pass as you might expect considering that many of the states that have the lowest standards for proficiency and the lowest NAEP scores voted Republican.

Debates have raged for decades as districts and states adopted their own tests called minimum skills, basic skills, essential skills, grade-level skills, exit-level skills, and many other terms to designate that what’s measured is somewhere between the lowest level acceptable or a high standard for excellence.  NCLB created proficient as the goal, expecting it to be a high standard but not requiring it to be as high as NAEP.

Politimetrics, the combining of psychometrics and politics to make decisions, will determine the definition of proficiency and how it’s aligned across states.  Look for this to be one of the liveliest debates.  One current strategy of some, following NCLB but having local or state accountability ratings as well, will get more difficult to defend.  As NCLB softens up in other areas, this proficiency issue may get more controversial.  No state can publicly adopt a local proficiency standard that is below the Federal standard.  Having one that’s different in how it’s calculated or what it includes is fine, but expecting less of our proficient children is not going to work.

The Eduguru speaks:  What if NAEP became the standard, but NAEP’s Basic Level became the criterion?  Then states can be encouraged to adopt standards higher than basic—if they want.