The Secondary Campus broadens the Proficiency Scale to provide additional understanding and supports its conversion to percentages and letter grades for Grades 10-12. Each of the four core levels has a "high end" (+) and a "low end" (base).
- Emerging and Emerging +: The student demonstrates an initial understanding of the content and skills learned. "Emerging" means they are beginning to understand something and may need more support.
- Developing and Developing +: The student demonstrates a partial understanding of the content and skills learned. "Developing" means they understand some things but still have other areas to work on.
- Proficiency and Proficiency +: The student demonstrates a complete understanding of the content and skills learned. This is the goal for all students, indicating they fully understand the required learning.
- Extending and Extending +: The student demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of the content and skills learned. "Extending" signifies a deeper understanding and the ability to apply learning in new and different ways. It is not the goal for all students in every area.
- Insufficient Evidence: This indicator is used when there is insufficient evidence of learning in a particular learning standard, possibly due to lengthy absence or unsubmitted assignments. It is expected to be a temporary status. Remaining "Insufficient Evidence" at year-end will impact the student's overall standing.
Differentiating "+" Levels
- The "+" levels (e.g., Developing +) indicate consistent, high-end performance within that particular level.
- The base levels (e.g., Developing) indicate solid performance but with some inconsistencies.
Relationship to Learning Standards and Grades
- The Proficiency Scale is used to describe a student's level of achievement for Learning Standards. Learning Standards encompass what a student should know, do, and understand at a given grade level, taught alongside content and big ideas.
- Rubrics, which outline Learning Standards and describe achievement levels using the Proficiency Scale, are central to assessing student learning. These rubrics are anchored in "command terms" (action words like describe, analyze) and "value statements" (words like somewhat, mostly, consistently) to articulate success.
- For Grades 10-12, the Proficiency Level for each Learning Standard is assigned a percentage, and these percentages are combined to calculate an overall percentage and then converted to a letter grade based on BC Ministry of Education guidelines. For Grade 9, an overall Proficiency Level is given per course.
- When determining a proficiency level, teachers use recent and consistent evidence of learning rather than averaging marks, as learning is continuous. While percentages are a Ministry requirement, RCS emphasizes that proficiency language should remain central in communication with students and parents to discuss learning goals and next steps.
