Dive Brief:
- Educators in Maine are changing their teaching methods to reflect legislation requiring schools to, by 2018, award high school diplomas based on student proficiency in eight content areas..
- The eight content areas in question: career and education development, English language arts, health education and physical education, mathematics, science and technology, social studies, visual and performing arts, and world languages.
- Student transcripts will also change, listing a student's proficiency in the content areas instead of the classes he or she is enrolled in.
Dive Insight:
To get an idea of what Maine's report card's may look like, check out MasteryConnect, an ed tech startup that creates proficiency-based report cards. Specifically, their reporting tool is designed for districts, teachers, and parents transitioning from traditional letter grades to mastery-based assessments. With the Common Core's focus placed less on achievement in the traditional sense and more on individualized mastery, students are assessed on their personal gains and understanding of benchmarks. This approach basically means report cards will be more personalized to deal with individual progression.