Small Return on Investment

Concepts reconfigures the overwhelming weight of Common Core State Standards in English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, technology, and metacognitive skills into a much more learner-friendly version that students have a much easier time understanding.

After establishing learning goals, the knowledge and skills that students will master are presented via clear steps or learning progressions as expressed in proficiency scales. Marzano has addressed these concepts at an even deeper level in The New Art and Science of Teaching (Marzano, 2017) and has asserted that providing and communicating clear learning goals and tracking student progress with proficiency scales are essential elements of effective instruction.

Proficiency scales are the critical element—the game changer in mastery-based learning—that provides teachers, students, and parents with a clear picture of what knowledge and skills students must demonstrate, while establishing a measurable definition of mastery (Marzano, 2017; Ruyle, 2019). For the purposes of this book, and to maintain a common language with the school wellness wheel, we also employ the term mastery scales to refer to proficiency scales. In its simplest form, a proficiency scale is a statement of progressively more complex expectations regarding the knowledge and skills within a measurement topic. Well-designed proficiency scales provide a blueprint for students to follow to achieve mastery and display a clear focus for instruction. The effect on the learners can be powerful in that, if used correctly, all instructional activities will have a purpose that makes sense to them. A proficiency scale brings often esoteric standards to life.

Proficiency scales are directly aligned with identified learning goals or prioritized standards and display a learning progression that provides students with the roadmap to mastering the skills and knowledge their teachers have identified as essential. Scales organize standards into manageable learning progressions and allow students to work toward goals sequentially on a continuum and provide a transparent way to communicate a learning goal. Once the majority of teachers have agreed on what mastering identified learning goals looks like, they plan and then provide learning opportunities. In these projects, activities, and tasks, students apply their knowledge and skills, practicing a skill to work toward mastery of learning goals (Priest et al., 2012).

A simplified example of a generic proficiency scale is presented in figure 3.1 (page 70). An array of more content-specific examples are presented in the following sections. For more detailed descriptions of how to construct and use proficiency scales, we suggest Formative Assessment and Standards-Based Grading (Marzano, 2010) and A Handbook for Developing and Using Proficiency Scales in the Classroom (Hoegh, 2020).