BEC Leads Proficiency

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The Business Education Compact has led proficiency training for teachers and administrators in Oregon since offering our first proficiency workshop in 2005. We have trained nearly 2,500 of Oregon'’s finest teachers and administrators and impacted the learning environment of 75,000 students. But, we can'’t slow down. We have a mission to change every classroom in Oregon, and to support work being done to make similar changes in classrooms across the United States.

• Policy Paves the Way for Reform
• By Any Other Name...
• Why Proficiency
• A Nation at Risk
• Need to Transform K-12 Education Now
• Learn More

Education has a history of great ideas, cutting-edge practices and reform efforts that have gone nowhere. With a growing body of evidence, proficiency-based teaching and learning promises a different trajectory as it dramatically raises the bar on expectations, transforms the classroom experience and delivers student achievement. BEC’ is committed to providing you important information and research that will help bring this practice to every classroom!

We believe:

• Every student can succeed with clear learning targets, a pathway to get there, and a voice of ownership;
• Every student deserves an assessment system that measures learning against a defined level of knowledge, understanding and skills;
• Every student should receive support through interventions, enrichment, and acceleration;
• Every student must receive instruction on a fluid continuum of learning targets that are defined by academic progress and not by artificial calendar points, schedules, or any other measure of time.

The students are at our doors waiting to get in to our classrooms. What will they find? The same classroom experience our parents and grandparents discovered? Or that we sat through many years ago? Or, will we finally get it right and make time the variable in each learning activity?”

Policy Paves The Way For Reform

The road toward proficiency policy was initially paved by a 2002 Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) that simply stated “districts may award credit based on proficiency.” Since then the OAR has been expanded and proficiency has become an overarching component of Oregon’'s more rigorous diploma requirements. Both the State Board of Education and the Oregon Department of Education endorse proficiency-based education in Oregon schools.

In fact, teachers at all levels are seeing the promise of proficiency and implementing proficiency-based practices in K-12 classrooms. So, how is it possible that a credit option initially available to high school students is fast becoming replicated in classrooms at all levels? Answering this question requires that we identify the critical components of effective teaching and learning, an effort the BEC is deeply involved in.

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By Any Other Name. . .

All of us are proficient at something; we have talents, hobbies, and passions that we pursue to high levels of expertise. And, each of these unique areas has standards of performance or ability that are recognized by us, as well as by professionals in the field. If we extend this thinking to the classroom, we begin to wonder if we’'re using proficiency-based teaching and learning, performance-based education, standards-based education, or something else. While each of these terms reflects some critical components of what we call proficiency, this website provides a wealth of resources to help point out the differences, as well as the similarities in these terms.

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Why Proficiency

High dropout rates, underperforming schools, insufficient preparation for the workplace, —the list goes on...

The need to dramatically improve student achievement is widely acknowledged. Business is concerned about its ability to thrive in a global economy with a workforce that won'’t be ready with the right skills in sufficient numbers. Education is challenged with an increasing demand for student performance with ever decreasing resources.

A Nation At Risk

In 1983, the United States commissioned a report on the state of education in America. What they found was an inconsistent educational system where there was no set “standard” of achievement and concluded that we were “A Nation at Risk.”

By the 1990'’s all 50 states implemented state standards in the core and elective courses. However, the national graduation rate is still below 70% and our nation is falling behind globally. While the answer may have begun with a Standards Based System, it didn’'t go far enough to make a truly successful systemic change.

Need To Transform K-12 Education Now

Transformation cannot occur through iterative improvement of a vastly underperforming system. What’'s needed is systemic change—a re-engineering of K-12 education fueled by Proficiency-Based Teaching and Learning.

The need to transform K-12 education is underscored by compelling data:

• High dropout rates persist with only about two-thirds of high school freshmen graduating within four years——closer to 50% for minority students
• Of those who enter college, 30% will drop out in their first year and less than 60% will earn a college degree within 6 years
• Over 40% of freshmen in community colleges and 20% of freshmen in four-year institutions enroll in at least one remedial class, but remediation is not linked to a greater likelihood of college completion

If standards-based education held the promise of ensuring that all students receive a rigorous education, then Proficiency Based Teaching and Learning (PBTL) is the model that will deliver on that promise. PBTL ensures that students will no longer be passed from grade to grade without demonstrating proficiency in state standards.

Based on our experience in re-inventing schools with proficiency-based education and the promise from early results, —we know we'’re on the right track to effect change now.

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Learn More

Explore these pages; learn more about proficiency. You'’ll understand the urgency with which we do our work, the desire we have to connect teachers with one another to share material, ideas, and struggles with implementation. You'’ll explore the depth of resources that are finally beginning to surface to help you with the many stages of implementation and the strategic and systemic components that are critical to sustain these important classroom practices. Let us know how we can help you on your journey. Share your data with us and help us tell the proficiency story. We can't wait; here come our students!

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For More Information:

Email Diane Smith at the BEC or call 503-646-0242 x28.