Comment on Department of Education may change proficiency-based diploma standards

Maine was the first state in the country to embrace a new “proficiency-based” high school diploma. Maine’s current ninth-graders are set to graduate under these new requirements, which apply to subjects from math to English and social studies. However, the Maine Department of Education is considering a change in that law that would potentially make it less onerous to graduate. To graduate four years from now, students will need to show that they’ve mastered “proficiency” in up to eight different subjects. But as the deadline for implementing these proficiency standards approaches, the state has been fielding a lot of questions from teachers, parents and administrators.