proficiency

But they cannot secure tourist or student visas to the US, often due to lower education or English proficiency.

A more accessible measure, though also imperfect, is proficiency rate, which is the percentage of students who have met the state academic standard in a particular area.

As standardized testing required schools to aim for student proficiency, all the focus went to those who hadn’t met that mark.

“America has a proficiency issue, particularly applicable to students of color, English language learners and students with disabilities,” Carvalho said.

The proficiency rate measures what percentage of students have met the California learning standard expected for a certain grade or subject matter.