Proficiency Based Education: Educators at more than two dozen Oregon high schools are teaching and grading their students in a new way that they say ramps up how much students learn and retain. 

Known as "proficiency-based education," the approach is generating controversy because students receive little to no credit for homework, attendance, classwork or extra credit -- only for demonstrating knowledge of key material.

Teachers are using the method in Beaverton, Forest Grove, Portland and other districts across Oregon.

Students must prove on tests, essays and other assignments that they've mastered the essential skills and content for the course. If they don't prove proficient the first time, they can redo tests or projects until they get them right.

Supporters say students emerge knowing their stuff. Strong students can forge ahead if they demonstrate know-how, while teens who struggle can circle back and retest or rewrite until they prove they grasp the concept.

"I can't believe I didn't use this method for the past 10 years," says Mark Sprenger, a Scappoose High math teacher who gets misty-eyed talking about students who failed math in the past but now are eager to relearn concepts, re-take quizzes and earn A's.

But the idea is generating pushback from teachers, students and parents -- particularly in Beaverton, where it's being used in various degrees at middle and high schools.

Some teachers resent the extra work required to re-teach and re-test outside class. Many students prefer the traditional paths to good grades and balk at having to retake tests until they demonstrate knowledge of every skill.

Critics say that switching to the proficiency method means throwing out established ways of teaching and grading for an approach that's gotten lots of hype but has little hard evidence that it works better.

This month, Beaverton officials agreed to return to using traditional letter grades on middle school progress reports instead of marking "proficient," "highly proficient" and "not yet proficient."

Two Beaverton middle-schoolers started a Facebook page called "I Hate The Proficiency Scale" that has drawn more than 850 fans and allowed students, parents and teachers to post their frustrations about grading inconsistencies and fears of falling grade-point averages.

Advocates of the proficiency method include the Oregon Department of Education and the Business Education Compact, a Beaverton nonprofit started by high-tech employers.

Before, "students were accumulating points instead of accumulating knowledge," says Tamra Busch-Johnsen, head of the business compact. "They'd go off to college and wonder why they need to (take remedial courses). ... When students earn their credits this way, we'll know that our high school diploma stands for something."

Oregon's application for $200 million of federal education money says that proficiency-based teaching will be a centerpiece of the state's school reform push in the next few years.

Hal Plotkin, senior education adviser in President Barack Obama's administration, says proficiency-based education is "an antidote to boredom in the classroom and a way to make sure that students are being exposed to the most relevant education possible."

Already the approach is used in places as diverse as Redmond, Hermiston, Falls City, Albany, Gresham, Roseburg and Lincoln City.

Scappoose High was an early architect of the idea. Teachers don't have to use it, but everyone who does, including the entire math department, is enthusiastic.

Some students still balk, but many are fans.

"I like that I can move at my own pace," says freshman Julia Grabhorn, who charged through two terms of algebra in a single term and advanced into geometry mid-year by demonstrating mastery of key skills.

When she got ahead of her class, she had to teach herself some skills and learn others from older schoolmates, but she says that worked fine.

"In a traditional class, we have students who are bored," says teacher David Richardson. "If they know it, why should we slow them down?"