June 17, 2026

Proficiency Confusion: Making Sense of Student Math and Reading Scores

If you work in education — or have kids in school — you’ve probably heard about your state’s student “proficiency” levels. But what does proficiency in reading or math actually look like? The reality is far from transparent: whether a student is proficient in math and reading can depend less on what they know than where they live, and may not directly map to the skills needed to succeed in future careers.

Join Bellwether for a conversation about what proficiency actually means for students’ future success. Drawing on our recent report that explores the topic using Lexile and Quantile Frameworks, we’ll explore: 

• the benefits of bringing transparency to state reading and math scores,
• why a universal metric is critical as school choice dominates the education landscape and comparisons across different kinds of assessments becomes even more difficult
• takeaways for policymakers, education leaders, and other stakeholders working to improve how we measure student success.

Featuring:

• Dr. Katie Jenner – Indiana Secretary of Education
• Melody Schopp – Vice President of Government Relations at MetaMetrics and former South Dakota Secretary of Education
• Todd Truitt – Lawyer, parent education advocate, and Virginia parent
• Moderated by Andrew J. Rotherham – Co-Founder and Senior Partner, Bellwether