We’re doing the MAP tests on Thursday and Friday morning. This test addresses academic growth. It seemed as good a time as any to address this idea of which is more important, growth or proficiency? It’s a false choice, really, everyone wants both. But if you had to pick one, which would you pick?

Brief summary of the conversation points.

DD: Everybody can’t reach proficient.

TC: Sometimes it’s not good enough for society’s standards. A school or a job might say “if you can’t show proficiency what makes you good enough to be in our place?”

KM: Growth shows that you’re putting in your work, even if it’s not proficient.

VG: It’s more meaningful to show growth. Proficiency is important depending on who is looking at you.

DW: The real world doesn’t really care about how much you grow.

MH: Once you reach a certain level, it has to be about proficiency. Growth is always happening but proficiency feels stagnant.

CB: Even if you don’t succeed (reach proficiency), you’re doing better than you did before.

DW: You can’t be okay with failing.

IK: If you show effort, that’s still something.

SH: If you have growth, you’ll eventually get to proficient.

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I’ll answer this differently depending on the day, but this morning I was feeling proficiency. Yeah, I want you to grow, but I want you to have achieved something, not just have gotten better. Tomorrow I’ll feel differently.

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Tomorrow we’ll talk about growth vs. proficiency as an athlete, a mechanic, a designer, a human being. Does this argument shift depending on the context? In other words, I don’t want a plumber who’s growing into their practice, I want the pipe not to leak. We’re also going to look at how the current Secretary of Ed handled this question…