Grade Level Proficiency vs. Continued Progress

As we start our Winter Benchmark testing, I began to think hard about the whole Grade Level Proficiency vs. Continued Progress.

I had a student who started at a 4 in math computations. At winter, they are a 16, which shows a tremendous growth. However the majority of their classmates scored in the 50s (and around 20-30 in the Fall) At the beginning of the year, they struggled with basic addition computations, having to add on their fingers while the others were learning about multiplication. I supplemented: while the others did multiplication fact games, they would do addition ones. I sent home materials to practice at home. They were exposed to multiplication concepts even though they didn't understand it, while they built up their fundamental math skills.

There has been the big question that our principal posed: "Do we teach to mastery or do we teach for exposure?"

I think in math, it is very cyclical. Our first unit was on the commutative, distributive, and associative properties of multiplication. After winter break, our units are on the commutative, associative, and identity properties of addition.

I love the idea of education as a spiral where you re-visit terms & concepts at different points to check your understanding rather than spending time on one term & concept till you have "mastered it" I believe true mastery happens when you still remember something even after not being exposed to it for an amount of time.