Entering its fourth year of a six-year implementation plan, South Portland School Department has learned a great deal about the delicate and intricate nature of a move to proficiency-based learning. The lesson learned range from different types of professional development needs that have emerged around formative and summative assessment to the need for standardized grading guidelines. Making theory practical requires compromise and adjustment, and that has been the case for South Portland High School has it grapples with decisions about honors and recognition policies, co-curricular eligibility policies, and the development of a proficiency-based transcript.
