California--  The Transitions Project

The Transitions Project's mission has been to catalyze and accelerate secondary school reform by designing instruments reporting student achievement and potential in the language of performance, rather than in the language of credits and grades in certain prescribed courses.

In California, a limited pilot study, called the Transitions Project, has been an established element in the process of beginning to develop a competency-based admissions procedure. The Transitions Project was launched in 1993 as a collaborative initiative by the California Center for School Restructuring (CCSR) to address the perceived roadblock to high school reform stemming from an inflexible college admissions process. This collaboration included educators affiliated with the Bay Area Coalition of Essential Schools; admissions officials from the University of California and California State University systems; and representatives from The College Board, Educational Testing Service, and the California Department of Education. The nonprofit Pacific Education Group served as organizational facilitator.

The Transitions Project's mission has been to catalyze and accelerate secondary school reform by designing instruments reporting student achievement and potential in the language of performance, rather than in the language of credits and grades in certain prescribed courses (known in California as the "A to F require-ments"). These new transcripts not only reflect reform efforts being implemented in schools, but also strive to provide essential indicators of student readiness to engage in rigorous university-level work, technical training, employment opportunities, and other post-secondary options.

To test this new system, alternative competency-based transcripts were developed in five different high schools associated with the Coalition of Essential Schools. Three of these schools have received formal approval to use these alternative transcripts for students applying to University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) campuses. Examples of models for these alternative transcripts are described below.

High School A

Alternative transcripts in this school have four competency domains describing the range of concepts and skills in which students are expected to become proficient: (1) subject matter knowledge, (2) communication skills, (3) habits of work, and (4) habits of mind. In each domain, students can be rated at one of four performance levels: (1) exceeds standard, (2) proficient with regard to standard, (3) advancing toward proficiency, or (4) needs to develop. Since the knowledge domain is based on core concepts and skills covered in each course, it reflects grade-level standards of the content students should know from various disciplines such as English, history/social studies, mathematics, science, modern language, and fine arts. The other three domains reflect process skills--the standards for these are set at graduation level (i.e., students are judged by the level they have achieved at the time of graduation). In designing this framework, the high school clarifies that few students are expected to meet the standards of communication skills, habits of work, and habits of mind as freshmen; instead, students are expected to progress ("advance") toward proficiency during their high school careers.

High School B

This school has organized the final two years of its curriculum around career-related themes. Its alternative transcript has six competency domains that describe the range of concepts and skills in which students are expected to reach "standard" levels of performance: (1) habits of inquiry, (2) the experience of technology, (3) collection and organization of information, (4) com-munication of ideas, (5) effective collaboration with others, and (6) lifelong learning. In each domain, students can be rated at the following levels: distinguished, mastery, achieves standard, near standard, below standard, and no evidence. Unlike High School A, all of the competency domains defined by High School B are assessed on a grade-level demonstration of mastery rather than a graduation level of mastery. Hence, the full range of ratings is expected from students in each alternatively-scored course, regardless of grade level. Domain-specific rubrics are developed to define explicit, expected standards of student performance.

Transitions Project schools began developing alternative forms of assessment in 1993, culminating in the Fall admission period of 1996, when an initial cohort of 92 students applied to UC and CSU campuses.The number of students admitted in this cohort is not currently available. A second and third cohort of 115 students applied in 1997, and 62 were admitted and chose to register. The data is not yet available as to how many students applied and/or were accepted for the 1998 admissions cohort. The NCRVE study is documenting the Transitions assessment process at these high schools and the use of Transitions transcripts in the admissions process. NCRVE is also helping to reframe the format of the transcripts and is laying the groundwork for analyzing the predictive validity of Transitions data.