No More Reading Levels in Grades 3 - 5

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is ridiculous. One step forward by amending that insane N/I/P/ES grading system and two steps back by eliminating reading levels.

Are the kids going to know their reading levels? How is it that we're supposed to pick out books from the library if we have no idea of what their reading level is? My kid was reading above grade level in 1st last year, so the teacher did not send home books for reading at home (that was only for kids below grade level). We had to go get him books from the library. He complained that every book we took out was too hard, unless it was obviously too easy. This continued until I took out a whole pile of books that were listed one below his level! Without that reading level as a guide, the complaining would have continued.


I'm pulling my hair out with MCPS.

At least one principal has responded on this thread. Can I ask a question for any MCPS administrators on here? I'm a teacher in the county and I know principals have to tout the party line and play nice with central, but are you folks secretly as appalled as we are, generally speaking? It would be comforting actually to think that principals align more with their staff's needs than the central office initiative du jour.

Just because it is something required by Dr Smith, please don't assume all Central Office staff are behind it. Many who work in various departments are unhappy with the way things are going
and are trying their best to provide solid research based practice to those above and are being ignored.

x2,000...they should be dispensing anti-depressants at central office at this point. It's a miserable place to be and makes you wonder why you went in to education. Have been in the system for years and know best practices for students and Oz doesn't want to hear any of it. We've been told to just stay the course and trust that he knows what he's doing. Riiiiight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this forum should be directly linked to the Real Estate section so no one else makes the mistakes of moving to MoCo "for the great schools."

We certainly wished we read this board five years ago, never would have moved here. Big county slush fund public school districts are a mess.

But where would you have moved if you have a career in the DMV?

That’s the problem. What’s the alternative? My job only exists in DC. DCPS has its own problems and we weren’t about to sign up for 12 years of private school.

If anyone knows where to go in the WMA to find a solid public school system, please enlighten me!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So my neighbor is a reading specialist and she just shared with me today that schools received a memo indicating that students in grades 3 - 5 will no longer have their reading levels on their report cards. She explained that the new push in MCPS is to have all students read complex text that is two to three years above grade level. That's great but what if a student doesn't read on grade level? My friend said that the report card will simply state if a student is reading below, on or above target. I feel like we're taking a step backwards by not being transparent in exactly where our children are reading. Am I the only one who thinks this is nuts?

It’s public school. What do you expecr?

[Anonymous]

Pssst - you can reverse engineer a student's reading level from the MAP-R score which is published on MyMCPS several times a year. There are charts online that correlate MAP-R to lexile range which can be translated into any other reading level system you like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the HS issues are pretty completely different than the ES issues. I attended MCPS HS in 1993-1997 - there were no A- or B+ then either, and there was no class rank. The only one of the things mentioned that actually changed is the final exams. I personally think it would be good for kids to experience a few 3 hour comprehensive exams before starting college, but I understand why the change was made given how much extra "high stakes testing" kids are spending time on now and given that AP and IB exams are much more common now.

The ES testing is confusing. I think it's good to recognize that data can provide helpful information and guide individualized instruction. But keeping track of all the different types of testing and switching this one out for that one is just impossible to keep track of as a parent. I think they change too much and consistency year to year is clearly by the central office.

There were +;s and -'s in MCPS at that time and there was class rank but we were never told class rank in less you asked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this forum should be directly linked to the Real Estate section so no one else makes the mistakes of moving to MoCo "for the great schools."

We certainly wished we read this board five years ago, never would have moved here. Big county slush fund public school districts are a mess.

If you moved here for the perfect schools, then yes, that was a mistake.

If the only reason you moved here was for the schools -- you could have lived anywhere in the US (or the world), but you moved here for the schools -- then that was also a mistake.

The schools were one of the reasons I moved here, vs. somewhere else in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area, and it wasn't a mistake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this forum should be directly linked to the Real Estate section so no one else makes the mistakes of moving to MoCo "for the great schools."

We certainly wished we read this board five years ago, never would have moved here. Big county slush fund public school districts are a mess.

This board is just a bubble outside reality. By any real metric, MCPS is a solid school system. Many posters here just like to whine.

Absolutely..95% entertainment only...with a bit of useful information sprinkled in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this forum should be directly linked to the Real Estate section so no one else makes the mistakes of moving to MoCo "for the great schools."

We certainly wished we read this board five years ago, never would have moved here. Big county slush fund public school districts are a mess.

This board is just a bubble outside reality. By any real metric, MCPS is a solid school system. Many posters here just like to whine.

Absolutely..95% entertainment only...with a bit of useful information sprinkled in.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this forum should be directly linked to the Real Estate section so no one else makes the mistakes of moving to MoCo "for the great schools."

We certainly wished we read this board five years ago, never would have moved here. Big county slush fund public school districts are a mess.

This board is just a bubble outside reality. By any real metric, MCPS is a solid school system. Many posters here just like to whine.

Absolutely..95% entertainment only...with a bit of useful information sprinkled in.

+1000

We are definitely hoping that is the case. We start in the system next week and the neighbors we talk to seem pretty happy. So hopefully this is mostly DCUM complaining.

[Anonymous]

Like the earlier poster said this site will sometimes provide very useful information and even advice, but many of the opinions expressed seem out of touch with reality. Sure, C2.0 isn't perfect and they need to make changes, but it's hardly the end of the world. Many students from this county go on to top colleges...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this forum should be directly linked to the Real Estate section so no one else makes the mistakes of moving to MoCo "for the great schools."

We certainly wished we read this board five years ago, never would have moved here. Big county slush fund public school districts are a mess.

This board is just a bubble outside reality. By any real metric, MCPS is a solid school system. Many posters here just like to whine.

Absolutely..95% entertainment only...with a bit of useful information sprinkled in.

Most definitely -- I'm here for the entertainment!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this forum should be directly linked to the Real Estate section so no one else makes the mistakes of moving to MoCo "for the great schools."

We certainly wished we read this board five years ago, never would have moved here. Big county slush fund public school districts are a mess.

This board is just a bubble outside reality. By any real metric, MCPS is a solid school system. Many posters here just like to whine.

Absolutely..95% entertainment only...with a bit of useful information sprinkled in.

Most definitely -- I'm here for the entertainment!

I don't find the bigotry entertaining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like the earlier poster said this site will sometimes provide very useful information and even advice, but many of the opinions expressed seem out of touch with reality. Sure, C2.0 isn't perfect and they need to make changes, but it's hardly the end of the world. Many students from this county go on to top colleges...

Many students from this county also have families that either supplement at home or hire tutors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like the earlier poster said this site will sometimes provide very useful information and even advice, but many of the opinions expressed seem out of touch with reality. Sure, C2.0 isn't perfect and they need to make changes, but it's hardly the end of the world. Many students from this county go on to top colleges...

Many students from this county also have families that either supplement at home or hire tutors.

You clearly haven't left your bubble of Bethesda/Potomac if you believe that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher and really don't understand why they're going this route. We will still have the benchmarks to determine if they're reading below, on or above grade level so why would we not share that info on the report card? Another decision made without consulting the people who actually teach the students and communicate with the parents.

Actually, under FERPA, you are legally obligated to share that info if parents ask. so now you will just have to share that info individually when parents ask.