What are/were the best things about ELC? Can we advocate to keep those things?

[Anonymous]

What are/were the most valuable and positive aspects of ELC as far as the curriculum/assignments? (Obviously the cohorting is very important as well.) What would we most want to keep from being lost in the switchover from ELC fo CKLA (again, besides cohorting)?

What I'm thinking is, I believe right at this moment AEI is working on determining the extra assignments and components on top of CKLA for kids who qualify for enrichment. Some of these extras will only be for cohorted kids and some will be for all kids in literacy enrichment, whether Model 1 or 2 (some will be done in class and some in the new 30-minutes-a-day-FIT/WIN time.). I am guessing once they finalize this they will probably not come back to revise it again for awhile. So now is the time both to salvage as much as possible for the non-cohorted kids, but also make Option 1 as good as possible so that if we can win it at more schools next year or make it mandatory at all schools next year, it will include as many as possible of the good things about ELC that kids and parents love and appreciate.

So what are those "most important aspects" of ELC we should be asking for them to preserve? (For example, are there specific assignments that were really great? Ongoing practices or approaches? Big categories like "number of novels read" or "emphasis on creative writing"? I am making these up since I have no experience with ELC myself! But I'm sure we have lots of people here who can help us come up with the actual answers about ELC's biggest strengths.)

[Anonymous]

OP has no idea?

[Anonymous]

The biggest strength is the separate cohort. Period. As a 3rd grade parent I have no complaints about CKLA save perhaps no actual books (love the direct focus on spelling) but my advanced kid needs to be around peers who are moving at the same pace.

[jsteele]

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1274978.page