Voices in Urban Education
Archives
Toward Proficiency
VUE Number 14, Winter 2007
| VUE Home | Archives | Order Print Copy |
EXCERPT:
Academic Proficiency: Bright Hopes, Blurry Vision
By Lauren B. Resnick and Lindsay Clare Matsumura
Lauren B. Resnick is director of the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh.
> Author's biography
Lindsay Clare Matsumura is an assistant professor in the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Policy Center
> Author's biography
The expectations for learning for all young people have increased steadily over the past few centuries, toward what we now
consider proficiency. But the "bright line" between proficiency and basic levels of achievement is at risk of being obscured
by current testing and accountability policies.
As America settles into a standards and accountability-driven education system, many elements of the process that had seemed self-evident or simple in initial conception are now understood to be problematic. In addition, some decisions made in political negotiations worked temporarily because those pressing for a major new way of governing the country's education system found it convenient to ignore some potentially divisive issues.
Among these decisions and issues is what it means for students to be "proficient." The term came into use as part of a broad national consensus that educational outcomes were too low across the nation, and especially so for our minority and poverty students. The standards and accountability strategy, embodied in the 2002 No Child Left Behind legislation but, in fact, negotiated in a bipartisan political environment over the entire preceding decade, became America's strategy for meeting radical new equity goals in education.
The entire educational accountability system depends on agreements about proficiency and reasonable expectations for reaching proficiency across the spectrum of students served by our schools. Do we really agree, however, on what we mean by the term? Or are we using a common word to mask important discrepancies? Most important, are the discrepancies creating inequities for students and teachers?
In this essay we explore the various meanings that the term proficiency can have, building on the changing expectations for universal literacy in Europe and the United States over four centuries. We will show how the meaning of being literate has changed dramatically over centuries and how meanings attached to the term have depended, in part, on what proportion of the population a society considered an appropriate target for educational effort.
Shifts in the Meaning of Literacy: Four Centuries of Redefinition
There is probably no place or time in history when there has not been a struggle over who should be educated — and to what standards of competence. In the middle ages, individuals were considered literate, for legal purposes, if they could sign their names — rather than marking an X or providing a thumbprint on a legal document.
Knowing how to read, even a little,was a mark of distinction. No one expected serfs to read, and few thought that literacy was needed for anyone except scholars, some clergy, and those charged with administering the affairs of the landed aristocracy. As the medieval period came to an end, various forces — both economic and social — led to increasing expectations for more people who could read, write, and do various forms of written arithmetic. These forces were religious, economic, military, and national.
Archives
Toward Proficiency
VUE Number 14, Winter 2007
| VUE Home | Archives | Order Print Copy |
EXCERPT:
Academic Proficiency: Bright Hopes, Blurry Vision
By Lauren B. Resnick and Lindsay Clare Matsumura
Lauren B. Resnick is director of the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh.
> Author's biography
Lindsay Clare Matsumura is an assistant professor in the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Policy Center
> Author's biography
The expectations for learning for all young people have increased steadily over the past few centuries, toward what we now
consider proficiency. But the "bright line" between proficiency and basic levels of achievement is at risk of being obscured
by current testing and accountability policies.
As America settles into a standards and accountability-driven education system, many elements of the process that had seemed self-evident or simple in initial conception are now understood to be problematic. In addition, some decisions made in political negotiations worked temporarily because those pressing for a major new way of governing the country's education system found it convenient to ignore some potentially divisive issues.
Among these decisions and issues is what it means for students to be "proficient." The term came into use as part of a broad national consensus that educational outcomes were too low across the nation, and especially so for our minority and poverty students. The standards and accountability strategy, embodied in the 2002 No Child Left Behind legislation but, in fact, negotiated in a bipartisan political environment over the entire preceding decade, became America's strategy for meeting radical new equity goals in education.
The entire educational accountability system depends on agreements about proficiency and reasonable expectations for reaching proficiency across the spectrum of students served by our schools. Do we really agree, however, on what we mean by the term? Or are we using a common word to mask important discrepancies? Most important, are the discrepancies creating inequities for students and teachers?
In this essay we explore the various meanings that the term proficiency can have, building on the changing expectations for universal literacy in Europe and the United States over four centuries. We will show how the meaning of being literate has changed dramatically over centuries and how meanings attached to the term have depended, in part, on what proportion of the population a society considered an appropriate target for educational effort.
Shifts in the Meaning of Literacy: Four Centuries of Redefinition
There is probably no place or time in history when there has not been a struggle over who should be educated — and to what standards of competence. In the middle ages, individuals were considered literate, for legal purposes, if they could sign their names — rather than marking an X or providing a thumbprint on a legal document.
Knowing how to read, even a little,was a mark of distinction. No one expected serfs to read, and few thought that literacy was needed for anyone except scholars, some clergy, and those charged with administering the affairs of the landed aristocracy. As the medieval period came to an end, various forces — both economic and social — led to increasing expectations for more people who could read, write, and do various forms of written arithmetic. These forces were religious, economic, military, and national.
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