Reading Instruction in Elementary

[Anonymous]

I have been searching the boards and the MCPS website. It looks like MCPS is entirely focussed on Balanced Literacy and is not providing evidenced based reading instruction. There is a thread about Lower School Reading on the Private/Independent thread that indicates that very few private schools offer evidenced based reading instruction either. What are the option for a solid foundation in reading in the local schools? We have a family history of Dyslexia and so want to start our kids out with the most effective educational environment.

[Anonymous]

I believe they are piloting a systematic phonics instruction program this year for grades K-2 and are going to expand it to all schools next year. This is to do in tandem with Benchmark.

Why they chose Benchmark when it doesn't follow the science of reading is anyone's guess.

[Anonymous]

Benchmark is, by all reports, not great. I am not sure why MCPS did not accept that feedback before they contracted for Benchmark, but now that they have it, they are stuck for a while

[Anonymous]

Anyone know how long ago MCPS has ditched the phonics? I recall when my son was in K, the teachers essentially told me I wasted my time when I taught him phonics in preschool. They told me that all kids eventually catch up with each other. They just seemed unimpressed and not thrilled about his reading level. They did have the break up the kids into different groups anyway, so I didn't see the issue, but they were clearly rolling their eyes when I shared how I prepared him. Pretty sure phonics was not being taught at the time. This was about 15 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Benchmark is, by all reports, not great. I am not sure why MCPS did not accept that feedback before they contracted for Benchmark, but now that they have it, they are stuck for a while

Exactly, it is not effective but they still use it because they already contracted for it years ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know how long ago MCPS has ditched the phonics? I recall when my son was in K, the teachers essentially told me I wasted my time when I taught him phonics in preschool. They told me that all kids eventually catch up with each other. They just seemed unimpressed and not thrilled about his reading level. They did have the break up the kids into different groups anyway, so I didn't see the issue, but they were clearly rolling their eyes when I shared how I prepared him. Pretty sure phonics was not being taught at the time. This was about 15 years ago.

As a parent of two children with disabilities, MCPS did not have a reading program to meet their needs. We were told with my oldest to not worry about her not meeting standards and not being on grade level that all students catch up by third grade. For students like my child (and about 25% of students) that wasn’t the case. In third grade, the elementary school acknowledged my child couldn’t read on grade level but they didn’t have a program for her.

I learned at that point to no longer trust MCPS. They were passing a child from grade to grade who could not read. I got my daughter privately tested and then my son when he showed the same difficulties. I hired a reading tutor who was an expert in Lindamood Bell. Within a year of services multiple times per week, my children learn skills to compensate for their disabilities that impacted reading.

MCPS views the bottom 25% of students as disposable. They have never had reading programs that will address every child’s needs even though there are many evidence based programs available.

[Anonymous]

What, exactly, is "evidenced based reading instruction"? Whose evidence? And with what cohort?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been searching the boards and the MCPS website. It looks like MCPS is entirely focussed on Balanced Literacy and is not providing evidenced based reading instruction. There is a thread about Lower School Reading on the Private/Independent thread that indicates that very few private schools offer evidenced based reading instruction either. What are the option for a solid foundation in reading in the local schools? We have a family history of Dyslexia and so want to start our kids out with the most effective educational environment.

MCPS isn't really all that focused on teaching reading unless your kid is struggling. I think my kid gets a group about once a month and they're far from advanced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know how long ago MCPS has ditched the phonics? I recall when my son was in K, the teachers essentially told me I wasted my time when I taught him phonics in preschool. They told me that all kids eventually catch up with each other. They just seemed unimpressed and not thrilled about his reading level. They did have the break up the kids into different groups anyway, so I didn't see the issue, but they were clearly rolling their eyes when I shared how I prepared him. Pretty sure phonics was not being taught at the time. This was about 15 years ago.

As a parent of two children with disabilities, MCPS did not have a reading program to meet their needs. We were told with my oldest to not worry about her not meeting standards and not being on grade level that all students catch up by third grade. For students like my child (and about 25% of students) that wasn’t the case. In third grade, the elementary school acknowledged my child couldn’t read on grade level but they didn’t have a program for her.

I learned at that point to no longer trust MCPS. They were passing a child from grade to grade who could not read. I got my daughter privately tested and then my son when he showed the same difficulties. I hired a reading tutor who was an expert in Lindamood Bell. Within a year of services multiple times per week, my children learn skills to compensate for their disabilities that impacted reading.

MCPS views the bottom 25% of students as disposable. They have never had reading programs that will address every child’s needs even though there are many evidence based programs available.

Kids in the bottom 25% at our school receive 90% of the resources. They meet with the teacher in groups at least 3 times a week. Nobody else gets that kind of attnetion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know how long ago MCPS has ditched the phonics? I recall when my son was in K, the teachers essentially told me I wasted my time when I taught him phonics in preschool. They told me that all kids eventually catch up with each other. They just seemed unimpressed and not thrilled about his reading level. They did have the break up the kids into different groups anyway, so I didn't see the issue, but they were clearly rolling their eyes when I shared how I prepared him. Pretty sure phonics was not being taught at the time. This was about 15 years ago.

As a parent of two children with disabilities, MCPS did not have a reading program to meet their needs. We were told with my oldest to not worry about her not meeting standards and not being on grade level that all students catch up by third grade. For students like my child (and about 25% of students) that wasn’t the case. In third grade, the elementary school acknowledged my child couldn’t read on grade level but they didn’t have a program for her.

I learned at that point to no longer trust MCPS. They were passing a child from grade to grade who could not read. I got my daughter privately tested and then my son when he showed the same difficulties. I hired a reading tutor who was an expert in Lindamood Bell. Within a year of services multiple times per week, my children learn skills to compensate for their disabilities that impacted reading.

MCPS views the bottom 25% of students as disposable. They have never had reading programs that will address every child’s needs even though there are many evidence based programs available.

Kids in the bottom 25% at our school receive 90% of the resources. They meet with the teacher in groups at least 3 times a week. Nobody else gets that kind of attnetion.

If you are in a Title I school, there are extra resources. Not true at the majority of MCPS schools. Also, if the child has a disability like dyslexia, the wrong type of instruction will not be helpful.

More students need evaluations to identify their disabilities in order to teach them basic skills like reading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What, exactly, is "evidenced based reading instruction"? Whose evidence? And with what cohort?

Orton-Gillingham based programs are the only evidence-based reading curriculums which research has shown works best. It EVEN benefits ALL children, not only the 25% with learning differences in reading.

The problem is, it is expensive. The training takes time and money. And reading groups cannot include more than 3 students. MCPS is taking steps to move towards The Science of Reading, but it's too late for our kid. I get upset every time I think about how teachers are not being taught how to teach reading appropriately when they are getting their degree.

The Orton-Gillingham approach is a multisensory phonics technique for remedial reading instruction. It is practiced as a direct, explicit, cognitive, cumulative and multi-sensory approach.

In Maryland, School Psychs are not allowed to diagnose dyslexia when doing psycho-educational testing. You need to pay for a private evaluation to get that accurate diagnosis. Our son's test results from the county state he has "specific learning disability in reading and writing" I wonder how things would have gone differently this year for him if we had test results showing he has dyslexia like his dad. If MD allowed their school psychs to accurately diagnose dyslexia, then they would have to provide the appropriate tier 3 instruction. But they can't, so they don't.

His school actually told us they do have 2 OG programs available, but when I asked them to please switch him to it, they finally admitted they don't have the staff available. So, my son gets 2 hours weekly of the tier 2 intervention in school, and we pay for an OG-trained tutor (tier 3- appropriate for dyslexics) twice a week after school. Next year, we are enrolling him in a private school with very small classes and individual attention, and will pay for OG tutoring 3x week but it can be during school hours in their private tutoring room.

A great resource for tutoring and info on the science of reading is SparkED Literacy.
https://instagram.com/sparkedliteracy?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What, exactly, is "evidenced based reading instruction"? Whose evidence? And with what cohort?

In short, not the debunked work of Fountas, Pinnell, Calkins, or Goodman. Start with Seidenberg, Garza, Wolf, Carreker, Ehri, Torgesen, Kilpatrick, Shaywitz, Birsh, Marzola, Moats, Wexler. People who use the term "evidence-based reading instruction" see a disconnect between the latest reading research vs. curricula and teacher training. They want to close the gap. Not for one cohort, but for all cohorts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know how long ago MCPS has ditched the phonics? I recall when my son was in K, the teachers essentially told me I wasted my time when I taught him phonics in preschool. They told me that all kids eventually catch up with each other. They just seemed unimpressed and not thrilled about his reading level. They did have the break up the kids into different groups anyway, so I didn't see the issue, but they were clearly rolling their eyes when I shared how I prepared him. Pretty sure phonics was not being taught at the time. This was about 15 years ago.

As a parent of two children with disabilities, MCPS did not have a reading program to meet their needs. We were told with my oldest to not worry about her not meeting standards and not being on grade level that all students catch up by third grade. For students like my child (and about 25% of students) that wasn’t the case. In third grade, the elementary school acknowledged my child couldn’t read on grade level but they didn’t have a program for her.

I learned at that point to no longer trust MCPS. They were passing a child from grade to grade who could not read. I got my daughter privately tested and then my son when he showed the same difficulties. I hired a reading tutor who was an expert in Lindamood Bell. Within a year of services multiple times per week, my children learn skills to compensate for their disabilities that impacted reading.

MCPS views the bottom 25% of students as disposable. They have never had reading programs that will address every child’s needs even though there are many evidence based programs available.

Can you share information about where you found the tutor?

I’m concerned that my K kid still cannot read and she will be heading to first grade. We have voiced our concerns multiple times but the teacher assured us that she’s meeting expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know how long ago MCPS has ditched the phonics? I recall when my son was in K, the teachers essentially told me I wasted my time when I taught him phonics in preschool. They told me that all kids eventually catch up with each other. They just seemed unimpressed and not thrilled about his reading level. They did have the break up the kids into different groups anyway, so I didn't see the issue, but they were clearly rolling their eyes when I shared how I prepared him. Pretty sure phonics was not being taught at the time. This was about 15 years ago.

I have seen situations where you have a kid who is an outlier in their classroom so they will create a reading group with children who are also outliers kindergarten classes.

[Anonymous]

I work at a school that was using Orton Gillingham and had trained the the classroom teachers on it and the paras did small group learning with phonics. However Montgomery county has instructed schools to stop doing OG and everyone is switching to Really Great Reading for phonics next year