Mastery ladder
Finch tracks two parallel views of every sub-area: the verification status (active / complete / regressed / stuck) and the tutor-verified depth ladder shown below. They tell different stories. Verification says “passes the test.” The ladder says “knows it cold.” This page is the second story.
No domain certified yet. Topic-wide certification requires all sub-areas at mastered AND a passing topic-gateway capstone. The capstone evaluator and the mastered tier itself are both future work — Phase 2 and Phase 3 respectively. This rung stays empty by design until then.
Tiers are earned through repeated tutor verification at progressively higher difficulty. Each rung above competent has never been reached. That emptiness is the work.
HONESTY // The mastery ladder is intentionally hard to climb. The criteria above competent are set high enough that the rungs are empty by design. As of today, every sub-area sits at competent or below. Empty rungs are not a bug.