Proficiency strikes me as a College 1.0 concept, while College 2.0 would concern itself with "readiness."
Proficiency implies a fixed standard against which performance is measured, and beyond which no further knowledge is necessary. The standardized tests administered to our K-12 students in Ohio are scored as Advanced, Proficient, Basic, etc.
"Readiness," on the other hand, focuses on the preparation of the student to attempt the next level. Readiness testing has been around awhile - in a sense, the college placement exams from the SAT to the Compass exams we administer to our incoming students are readiness tests.
We are seeing a widening gap between proficiency results and readiness results.
In the course-centered model of education, we measure students against a set of outcomes - proficiency. In the College 2.0 model, we assess their readiness to proceed to the next step, whether that step be another class in the discipline, another institution of higher learning, or the workplace.
In a proficiency-based system, not being proficient is marked as failure. In a readiness-focused system, not being ready is, well, not being ready to move on. More work is required, or more effort, or better understanding and application. Proficiency is closed-ended; readiness is open-ended.
In a proficiency model, we expect our students, regardless of the skills they enter the course with, to finish at the same time at the same level (or, if you're really old-fashioned, in a neat bell-curve distribution). In a readiness model, when the student is ready, he or she moves on.
Remember the 1970s TV show "Kung Fu "? "When you can snatch the pebble from my hand, it is time for you to leave."
--Brad
posted by Brad Reed @ 12:34 PM
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