A Combined Approach to Growth and Proficiency: Why it Works

In today’s educational landscape, the goal for school administrators and educators is clear: help students succeed. However, achieving this goal requires more than just teaching to the test or offering basic remediation. It requires a nuanced approach—one that balances both growth and proficiency. 

As schools across the country navigate a range of student needs, it’s important to understand the distinct but complementary roles that growth and proficiency play in shaping student outcomes. By integrating these two approaches, schools can create a more holistic, data-informed learning environment that supports every student on their path to success. 

Understanding the Difference: Growth vs. Proficiency 

Growth and proficiency are both essential components of academic achievement, yet they focus on different aspects of student development. 

• Growth refers to the progress a student makes over time, particularly in areas where they may be struggling or working below grade level. Growth initiatives are designed to close gaps in students’ foundational knowledge, helping them reach grade-level expectations by addressing specific learning deficits. This approach is about individual progress, not necessarily meeting a specific benchmark.
• Proficiency, on the other hand, centers on students reaching the defined standards for their grade level or subject. It’s about ensuring students have mastered the necessary content, skills, and knowledge that are expected at that point in their education. Proficiency focuses on ensuring students can meet or exceed established benchmarks, such as state standards, and are prepared for assessments and real-world applications. 

While growth helps to bring students up to speed, proficiency ensures they meet the expectations required for academic advancement. 

Why Both are Necessary for Student Success 

Students come to school with diverse needs. Some may be performing well but need to refine their knowledge to stay at grade level, while others may need significant support to catch up. Focusing solely on growth may not prepare students for the rigor of standardized assessments and college- and career-ready standards. Similarly, focusing only on proficiency can overlook the needs of students who are still working to bridge gaps in their foundational knowledge. 

The reality is that students need both. A growth-focused approach is essential for bringing students up to grade level, but proficiency-focused initiatives are critical for ensuring that once they reach grade level, they can continue progressing and achieving at the expected benchmarks. Together, growth and proficiency form the backbone of a comprehensive education strategy that supports all learners, ensuring that no student is left behind while also preparing all students to thrive in an increasingly competitive world. 

The Combined Approach: What It Looks Like in the Classroom 

Integrating both growth and proficiency in the classroom doesn’t require a complete overhaul of existing curricula. Rather, it’s about layering the two approaches in ways that complement each other and meet students where they are. 

In the classroom, growth initiatives might focus on personalized learning paths that address specific areas of need for individual students. Teachers can use data to identify gaps in foundational skills and create targeted interventions that help students build mastery in these areas, enabling them to catch up to grade level. 

Proficiency-focused strategies, in contrast, would ensure that students are practicing and mastering the content aligned with their state standards and curriculum. This might include providing students with targeted practice, assessments, and instructional support focused on these critical learning objectives. 

When these two strategies are effectively integrated, the result is a curriculum that addresses both the individual needs of students and the collective requirements of the grade-level standards. It’s a balanced approach that supports all students, regardless of where they start, and ensures that they stay on track to meet the academic milestones they need to achieve. 

Leveraging Educational Technology for Efficiency and Impact 

Implementing both growth and proficiency initiatives can be time-consuming and complex, particularly when trying to meet the needs of diverse learners. This is where educational technology plays a transformative role. 

With the right edtech tools, administrators and teachers can streamline and scale both growth and proficiency efforts. Educational technology platforms can automate diagnostic assessments, track student progress, and provide personalized learning pathways—reducing the burden on teachers and allowing them to focus on high-impact instruction. 

Moreover, educational technology can offer students immediate feedback, individualized instruction, and targeted practice, helping them progress at their own pace while remaining aligned with grade-level standards. By integrating data-driven decision-making into daily practice, technology enables educators to quickly adapt to the needs of their students and adjust their teaching strategies in real time.

The Benefits of Combining Growth and Proficiency on a Single Platform 

When educational technology platforms bring both growth and proficiency tools together in one system, the benefits are even greater. Here’s why:

• Seamless Integration: With both growth and proficiency features housed on the same platform, teachers and administrators can track both types of progress in one unified dashboard. This makes it easier to monitor student outcomes, adjust instruction, and implement interventions without juggling multiple tools or platforms.
• Data Consistency: A shared platform means that data from diagnostic assessments, practice sessions, and proficiency-based activities are all stored and analyzed in one place. This consistency allows for better insights into student performance, as well as a more holistic understanding of each student’s learning journey.
• Personalization at Scale: With both growth and proficiency features integrated, teachers can offer more personalized learning experiences that simultaneously address gaps and support mastery of grade-level content. Students can benefit from a customized learning path that meets their unique needs while preparing them for proficiency.
• Efficiency and Time Savings: When both approaches are embedded in the same platform, teachers and administrators save time by eliminating the need for multiple logins, different assessments, or managing separate tools. The result is less administrative burden and more time focused on student engagement and success. 

Conclusion: A Unified Solution for Student Success 

Incorporating both growth and proficiency-focused strategies into your school’s curriculum is essential for supporting every student’s academic journey. By leveraging educational technology to integrate both approaches, administrators and educators can provide personalized, efficient, and effective solutions that meet the diverse needs of today’s learners. Combining these strategies on a single platform not only streamlines efforts but also ensures that teachers have the tools they need to help students make meaningful progress and reach their full potential.  

As schools continue to embrace technology, Edmentum is leading the charge to ensure schools have the solutions they need to track and drive growth and proficiency together, creating equitable, efficient, data-driven educational environments that set all students up for success.  

Exact Path, our growth acceleration solution delivers diagnostic-driven personalized learning across grades K-12, while Exact Path Standards Mastery, our standards proficiency solution on the same platform, delivers core subject formative assessment and state test readiness. When combined, these two solutions create a powerful growth and proficiency engine allowing educators to deliver proven, data-driven tiered instruction and drive student success systemwide.