What do all these new terms mean?
Proficiency based grading is full of vocabulary and terminology. It is important to note that, while standards and proficiencies are being implemented nationally, each school uses some terms that are all their own, and BUHS is no exception. Additional resources are available at The Vermont Agency of Education and The Glossary of Education Reform.
Listed below are some of the most commonly used terms that you’ll see regularly here at BUHS.
ACE Period (Academic Challenge and Excellence): A period in the academic day when teachers can provide intervention, support, enrichment, and/or re-teaching.
CCSS: Common Core State Standards http://www.corestandards.org/
Content Proficiency: Written description of what students are expected to know and be able to do within a content area in order to graduate.
Differentiation: Educators' use of a wide variety of teaching techniques and lesson adaptations to meet the needs of diverse learners.
Flexible Pathway: A combination of courses, academic programs, and learning experiences that allow students to earn academic credit and satisfy graduation requirements with assistance and approval of administrators.
Formative Assessment: Assessment that informs instruction quickly and on a regular basis. For example, tickets to leave, quizzes, homework, classwork.
Growth Mindset: The belief that an individual's most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.
Habits of Work: Collaboration, behavior, participation, and work completion. Assessed using a common school-wide rubric. These are assessed and reported separately from academic progress.
INC: Incomplete - When a student has not been able to complete a course due to extenuating circumstances. Requires administrator approval to be used.
MTSS (Multi-Tiered Systems of Support): A comprehensive, systemic approach to teaching and learning designed to meet the academic and non-academic needs of all students. See Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 2 below.
NGA: No grade available (either work has not been submitted or student is not yet proficient).
NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards
Performance Indicator: One component of a content area or transferrable skill proficiency. Rubrics are aligned to these and they are used to assess proficiency in the PBGR.
PLP (Personalized Learning Plan): A plan developed and maintained by students typically in collaboration with teachers, counselors, and parents in a way to achieve long term and short term learning goals.
Proficiency: Degree of competence or skill as measured by academic expectations in a given subject area.
Proficiency Based Graduation Requirements (PBGR):Content knowledge and skills that qualify students to earn a high school diploma as defined by BUHS.
Proficiency Based Learning (PBL): System of instruction and assessment based on students' mastery of the skills and content they are expected to learn before they progress to the next lesson, grade level, or graduation.
Rubric: A set of criteria for scoring student work.
Standard: Concise, written description of what students are expected to know and be able to do at a specific stage of their education.
Summative Assessment: Assessment that helps teachers to evaluate and verify learning over time, at the end of a taught concept.
Tier 1: General academic and behavior instruction and support designed and differentiated for all students in all settings.
Tier 2: Targeted, more focused, supplemental, small group instruction in addition to Tier 1.
Tier 3: Intensive, individualized interventions and supports in addition to Tier 1 and Tier 2.
Transferable Skills: A broad set of knowledge, skills and work habits that are believed to be critically important to success in today's world. The BUHS graduation requirement for transferable skills is documented demonstration of each transferable skill twice in the 9th and 10th grade years, and twice again in the 11th and 12th grade years, for a total of four demonstrations of each skill during a student's high school career.
Listed below are some of the most commonly used terms that you’ll see regularly here at BUHS.
ACE Period (Academic Challenge and Excellence): A period in the academic day when teachers can provide intervention, support, enrichment, and/or re-teaching.
CCSS: Common Core State Standards http://www.corestandards.org/
Content Proficiency: Written description of what students are expected to know and be able to do within a content area in order to graduate.
Differentiation: Educators' use of a wide variety of teaching techniques and lesson adaptations to meet the needs of diverse learners.
Flexible Pathway: A combination of courses, academic programs, and learning experiences that allow students to earn academic credit and satisfy graduation requirements with assistance and approval of administrators.
Formative Assessment: Assessment that informs instruction quickly and on a regular basis. For example, tickets to leave, quizzes, homework, classwork.
Growth Mindset: The belief that an individual's most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.
Habits of Work: Collaboration, behavior, participation, and work completion. Assessed using a common school-wide rubric. These are assessed and reported separately from academic progress.
INC: Incomplete - When a student has not been able to complete a course due to extenuating circumstances. Requires administrator approval to be used.
MTSS (Multi-Tiered Systems of Support): A comprehensive, systemic approach to teaching and learning designed to meet the academic and non-academic needs of all students. See Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 2 below.
NGA: No grade available (either work has not been submitted or student is not yet proficient).
NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards
Performance Indicator: One component of a content area or transferrable skill proficiency. Rubrics are aligned to these and they are used to assess proficiency in the PBGR.
PLP (Personalized Learning Plan): A plan developed and maintained by students typically in collaboration with teachers, counselors, and parents in a way to achieve long term and short term learning goals.
Proficiency: Degree of competence or skill as measured by academic expectations in a given subject area.
Proficiency Based Graduation Requirements (PBGR):Content knowledge and skills that qualify students to earn a high school diploma as defined by BUHS.
Proficiency Based Learning (PBL): System of instruction and assessment based on students' mastery of the skills and content they are expected to learn before they progress to the next lesson, grade level, or graduation.
Rubric: A set of criteria for scoring student work.
Standard: Concise, written description of what students are expected to know and be able to do at a specific stage of their education.
Summative Assessment: Assessment that helps teachers to evaluate and verify learning over time, at the end of a taught concept.
Tier 1: General academic and behavior instruction and support designed and differentiated for all students in all settings.
Tier 2: Targeted, more focused, supplemental, small group instruction in addition to Tier 1.
Tier 3: Intensive, individualized interventions and supports in addition to Tier 1 and Tier 2.
Transferable Skills: A broad set of knowledge, skills and work habits that are believed to be critically important to success in today's world. The BUHS graduation requirement for transferable skills is documented demonstration of each transferable skill twice in the 9th and 10th grade years, and twice again in the 11th and 12th grade years, for a total of four demonstrations of each skill during a student's high school career.