MCPS is cutting ELC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I made a petition for mcps to not cut ELC. https://chng.it/mkYgDcB5Th Sign the petition to not remove ELC!

Thanks! Are you a student? I'm almost certain it's too late to save the ELC, unfortunately. But what might work would be to list what you think are the most important features of the ELC and start a petition urging MCPS to make sure to include those things in their new enrichment for 4th and 5th graders, because the details of the new enrichment options are still being worked out and could probably still be changed to include additional components. Would you consider a petition like that? What do you think are the most valuable parts of the ELC that MCPS should make sure to keep?

Yes I am a student and the most valuable parts are the assignments. My teacher does very fun assignments and I don’t want Amplify to ruin it for me and other kids. I also think if my petiton gets a couple signatures (100-200) i will show the board and if they see how much parents want to keep elc they might take it into consideration.

As a parent, I would encourage you to seek signatures and briefs thoughts from your fellow students (same class, class above you, students in MS who had ELC). Student voice matters.

+1
You should testify at at Board meeting. Do you know how to sign up?

No I don’t

Looks like signups are closed for next week's meeting but I think they will open again on the 17th for the 6/24 meeting: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/boe/community/participation/

DP. You should sign up at 6 pm on the 17th. If you are selected, you can testify in person or by prerecorded video. You only have 2 mins, but you can submit a longer written testimony.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I made a petition for mcps to not cut ELC. https://chng.it/mkYgDcB5Th Sign the petition to not remove ELC!

What about the schools that already cut ELC?!? My 4th grader sits in her homeroom for ELA everyday. Then, on Wednesdays for 30 minutes she moves to another room with the other kids that qualified for ELC. I’ve been angry about it all year and hope the BOE pays attention to these inequities as people speak out

Curious if you know what was they would do in the 30 minutes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I made a petition for mcps to not cut ELC. https://chng.it/mkYgDcB5Th Sign the petition to not remove ELC!

What about the schools that already cut ELC?!? My 4th grader sits in her homeroom for ELA everyday. Then, on Wednesdays for 30 minutes she moves to another room with the other kids that qualified for ELC. I’ve been angry about it all year and hope the BOE pays attention to these inequities as people speak out

Curious if you know what was they would do in the 30 minutes?

30 minutes a week at Viers Mill ES. EML kids learn English. ELC kids go to one classroom for who knows what. We’ve received zero info from the school. My kid has read 2 books the whole year and just created 2 slideshows but hasn’t made any improvements in fluency (what MCPS labels as foundational skills on the report card)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. The ELC curriculum itself is gone. Best message is to keep an advanced class, rather than asking teachers to offer enrichment to just some students in an all-levels class.

i mean it’s worth a try?

Some schools are retaining cohorted classes, but most are not. The time to advocate is now -- this will be a done deal after school ends.

So there's two things people can advocate for:
1) At individual schools, advocating for cohorted classes (will be finalized this month)
2) At the MCPS level, advocating for what they should include in the "extras" added onto the CKLA curriculum for students receiving enrichment (for either model.). I believe the AEI office staff are the ones designing this, and I believe it will be sent out to schools in August.

For #2, if there are things you particularly loved and/or valued about ELC, you could contact AEI to urge them to include some of that in the enrichment materials and resources they are developing and asking schools to layer onto the CKLA curriculum.

The thing I valued about ELC was having it as a separate class. That's going away.

They can put whatever they want as an enrichment resource--we all know that teachers will be focused on struggling students in their class. Kids who need enrichment won't receive it.

So was the value of the ELC only ever just the cohort? The curriculum wasn't that good and there's nothing to worry about losing from it? If all schools did the cohorted model with CKLA, would that be just as good as the ELC and that's the only thing we need to advocate for?

The ELC class, like the CES program, had a completely separate curriculum. It was not using Benchmark nor CKLA.

That's not what the PP said. They were referring to the future... "If all schools did the cohort model with CKLA..."

[Anonymous]

Looks like this is the 4th grade ELC curriculum: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/curriculum/enriched/programs/elementary/grade-4-parente28099s-guide-to-year-long-enriched-literacy-curriculum-elc-learning.pdf
and this is the 5th grade ELC curriculum: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/curriculum/enriched/programs/elementary/grade-5-parente28099s-guide-to-year-long-enriched-literacy-curriculum-elc-learning.pdf

Can any parents (or teachers, or students) who have been through ELC comment on the components listed and if any of them stood out as really effective/engaging/valuable? For example there seem to be some specific William & Mary and Lucy Calkins units and Junior Great Books included. Obviously there is no way all of that can be added on top of CKLA, but it is possible that one or two a year could be, especially if all schools are really going to have 2.5 hours of FIT time a week next year with the possibility of using most of it for ELA enrichment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like this is the 4th grade ELC curriculum: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/curriculum/enriched/programs/elementary/grade-4-parente28099s-guide-to-year-long-enriched-literacy-curriculum-elc-learning.pdf
and this is the 5th grade ELC curriculum: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/curriculum/enriched/programs/elementary/grade-5-parente28099s-guide-to-year-long-enriched-literacy-curriculum-elc-learning.pdf

Can any parents (or teachers, or students) who have been through ELC comment on the components listed and if any of them stood out as really effective/engaging/valuable? For example there seem to be some specific William & Mary and Lucy Calkins units and Junior Great Books included. Obviously there is no way all of that can be added on top of CKLA, but it is possible that one or two a year could be, especially if all schools are really going to have 2.5 hours of FIT time a week next year with the possibility of using most of it for ELA enrichment.

This question has been asked and answered many times on this forum.

[Anonymous]

They should get rid of it. CES is a waste of funds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looks like this is the 4th grade ELC curriculum: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/curriculum/enriched/programs/elementary/grade-4-parente28099s-guide-to-year-long-enriched-literacy-curriculum-elc-learning.pdf
and this is the 5th grade ELC curriculum: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/curriculum/enriched/programs/elementary/grade-5-parente28099s-guide-to-year-long-enriched-literacy-curriculum-elc-learning.pdf

Can any parents (or teachers, or students) who have been through ELC comment on the components listed and if any of them stood out as really effective/engaging/valuable? For example there seem to be some specific William & Mary and Lucy Calkins units and Junior Great Books included. Obviously there is no way all of that can be added on top of CKLA, but it is possible that one or two a year could be, especially if all schools are really going to have 2.5 hours of FIT time a week next year with the possibility of using most of it for ELA enrichment.

This question has been asked and answered many times on this forum.

Can you share a link or summarize? I have been searching diligently for this and haven't found much info on which specific aspects/units/assignments are thought to be strongest...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like this is the 4th grade ELC curriculum: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/curriculum/enriched/programs/elementary/grade-4-parente28099s-guide-to-year-long-enriched-literacy-curriculum-elc-learning.pdf
and this is the 5th grade ELC curriculum: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/curriculum/enriched/programs/elementary/grade-5-parente28099s-guide-to-year-long-enriched-literacy-curriculum-elc-learning.pdf

Can any parents (or teachers, or students) who have been through ELC comment on the components listed and if any of them stood out as really effective/engaging/valuable? For example there seem to be some specific William & Mary and Lucy Calkins units and Junior Great Books included. Obviously there is no way all of that can be added on top of CKLA, but it is possible that one or two a year could be, especially if all schools are really going to have 2.5 hours of FIT time a week next year with the possibility of using most of it for ELA enrichment.

My kid especially liked the William & Mary units.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like this is the 4th grade ELC curriculum: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/curriculum/enriched/programs/elementary/grade-4-parente28099s-guide-to-year-long-enriched-literacy-curriculum-elc-learning.pdf
and this is the 5th grade ELC curriculum: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/curriculum/enriched/programs/elementary/grade-5-parente28099s-guide-to-year-long-enriched-literacy-curriculum-elc-learning.pdf

Can any parents (or teachers, or students) who have been through ELC comment on the components listed and if any of them stood out as really effective/engaging/valuable? For example there seem to be some specific William & Mary and Lucy Calkins units and Junior Great Books included. Obviously there is no way all of that can be added on top of CKLA, but it is possible that one or two a year could be, especially if all schools are really going to have 2.5 hours of FIT time a week next year with the possibility of using most of it for ELA enrichment.

Some of it was things that I believe should be incorporated in all classes, like real feedback on papers. For example, need to expand this thought, or End sentence here +cross out of extra words, or callouts/dings for missed punctuation and capitalization.

Giving the kids roles throughout the reading of a book and pushing them to get better at those roles and the corresponding documentation.

Cross disciplinary writing and connection. So something they were talking about in Science or Social studies they might read additional info about and then do short answer questions or an essay. CKLA does some of this by having units that are about history and science, but that’s more about building kids context knowledge than actually integrating the units alongside the Science and History curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. The ELC curriculum itself is gone. Best message is to keep an advanced class, rather than asking teachers to offer enrichment to just some students in an all-levels class.

i mean it’s worth a try?

Some schools are retaining cohorted classes, but most are not. The time to advocate is now -- this will be a done deal after school ends.

So there's two things people can advocate for:
1) At individual schools, advocating for cohorted classes (will be finalized this month)
2) At the MCPS level, advocating for what they should include in the "extras" added onto the CKLA curriculum for students receiving enrichment (for either model.). I believe the AEI office staff are the ones designing this, and I believe it will be sent out to schools in August.

For #2, if there are things you particularly loved and/or valued about ELC, you could contact AEI to urge them to include some of that in the enrichment materials and resources they are developing and asking schools to layer onto the CKLA curriculum.

The thing I valued about ELC was having it as a separate class. That's going away.

They can put whatever they want as an enrichment resource--we all know that teachers will be focused on struggling students in their class. Kids who need enrichment won't receive it.

So was the value of the ELC only ever just the cohort? The curriculum wasn't that good and there's nothing to worry about losing from it? If all schools did the cohorted model with CKLA, would that be just as good as the ELC and that's the only thing we need to advocate for?

The ELC class, like the CES program, had a completely separate curriculum. It was not using Benchmark nor CKLA.

Yes, exactly. What I'm trying to figure out from folks with familiarity with the ELC is what the most valuable and positive aspects of it were as far as the curriculum/assignments?

The shift to CKLA will also include some extra assignments and components for kids who qualify for enrichment, sent out by AEI. If there are certain things that were very valuable (the number of novels read? incorporation of creative writing? specific major assignments?) that we can build consensus around advocating for, then I think we have a decent shot at getting AEI to include at least some of those things in the enrichment materials they provide to schools.

But what are those "most important aspects" of ELC we should be asking for them to preserve? What are the things folks thought worked best and we're most valuable about it? (Curriculum/assignment-wise-- obviously the cohorting is a big deal but everyone knows that already and It is a fight that has to happen at the school level at this point, so if we want to make asks of AEI we should focus on the enrichment overlay they're working on before that gets permanently set in stone.)

My child is a 3rd grader so I have no experience with ELC. Our school is doing model 1 next year so she will get the cohort, but I have no idea what kind of positive aspects of the ELC curriculum she will be missing out on. I am glad to advocate with AEI for those changes if folks can say what they are! (I will also advocate for those things to be included for the Model 2 kids to the maximum amount possible as well, of course, but hopefully you all can get your schools back to Model 1 next year even if it's too late for this year )

My 4th grader is in ELC this year. We have NOT seen the CKLA + Enrichment currriculum so we don't know what it's missing.

Things that work in ELC:
1. actual chapter books, not excerpts from books.
2. advanced writing reports
3. literature circles - small group work
4. reading homework
5. weekly spelling tests

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. The ELC curriculum itself is gone. Best message is to keep an advanced class, rather than asking teachers to offer enrichment to just some students in an all-levels class.

i mean it’s worth a try?

Some schools are retaining cohorted classes, but most are not. The time to advocate is now -- this will be a done deal after school ends.

So there's two things people can advocate for:
1) At individual schools, advocating for cohorted classes (will be finalized this month)
2) At the MCPS level, advocating for what they should include in the "extras" added onto the CKLA curriculum for students receiving enrichment (for either model.). I believe the AEI office staff are the ones designing this, and I believe it will be sent out to schools in August.

For #2, if there are things you particularly loved and/or valued about ELC, you could contact AEI to urge them to include some of that in the enrichment materials and resources they are developing and asking schools to layer onto the CKLA curriculum.

The thing I valued about ELC was having it as a separate class. That's going away.

They can put whatever they want as an enrichment resource--we all know that teachers will be focused on struggling students in their class. Kids who need enrichment won't receive it.

So was the value of the ELC only ever just the cohort? The curriculum wasn't that good and there's nothing to worry about losing from it? If all schools did the cohorted model with CKLA, would that be just as good as the ELC and that's the only thing we need to advocate for?

The ELC class, like the CES program, had a completely separate curriculum. It was not using Benchmark nor CKLA.

Yes, exactly. What I'm trying to figure out from folks with familiarity with the ELC is what the most valuable and positive aspects of it were as far as the curriculum/assignments?

The shift to CKLA will also include some extra assignments and components for kids who qualify for enrichment, sent out by AEI. If there are certain things that were very valuable (the number of novels read? incorporation of creative writing? specific major assignments?) that we can build consensus around advocating for, then I think we have a decent shot at getting AEI to include at least some of those things in the enrichment materials they provide to schools.

But what are those "most important aspects" of ELC we should be asking for them to preserve? What are the things folks thought worked best and we're most valuable about it? (Curriculum/assignment-wise-- obviously the cohorting is a big deal but everyone knows that already and It is a fight that has to happen at the school level at this point, so if we want to make asks of AEI we should focus on the enrichment overlay they're working on before that gets permanently set in stone.)

My child is a 3rd grader so I have no experience with ELC. Our school is doing model 1 next year so she will get the cohort, but I have no idea what kind of positive aspects of the ELC curriculum she will be missing out on. I am glad to advocate with AEI for those changes if folks can say what they are! (I will also advocate for those things to be included for the Model 2 kids to the maximum amount possible as well, of course, but hopefully you all can get your schools back to Model 1 next year even if it's too late for this year )

My 4th grader is in ELC this year. We have NOT seen the CKLA + Enrichment currriculum so we don't know what it's missing.

Things that work in ELC:
1. actual chapter books, not excerpts from books.
2. advanced writing reports
3. literature circles - small group work
4. reading homework
5. weekly spelling tests

I would agree strongly with all this. The reading homework is key so that class time isn’t used for reading but talking/writing about the books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. The ELC curriculum itself is gone. Best message is to keep an advanced class, rather than asking teachers to offer enrichment to just some students in an all-levels class.

i mean it’s worth a try?

Some schools are retaining cohorted classes, but most are not. The time to advocate is now -- this will be a done deal after school ends.

So there's two things people can advocate for:
1) At individual schools, advocating for cohorted classes (will be finalized this month)
2) At the MCPS level, advocating for what they should include in the "extras" added onto the CKLA curriculum for students receiving enrichment (for either model.). I believe the AEI office staff are the ones designing this, and I believe it will be sent out to schools in August.

For #2, if there are things you particularly loved and/or valued about ELC, you could contact AEI to urge them to include some of that in the enrichment materials and resources they are developing and asking schools to layer onto the CKLA curriculum.

The thing I valued about ELC was having it as a separate class. That's going away.

They can put whatever they want as an enrichment resource--we all know that teachers will be focused on struggling students in their class. Kids who need enrichment won't receive it.

So was the value of the ELC only ever just the cohort? The curriculum wasn't that good and there's nothing to worry about losing from it? If all schools did the cohorted model with CKLA, would that be just as good as the ELC and that's the only thing we need to advocate for?

The ELC class, like the CES program, had a completely separate curriculum. It was not using Benchmark nor CKLA.

Yes, exactly. What I'm trying to figure out from folks with familiarity with the ELC is what the most valuable and positive aspects of it were as far as the curriculum/assignments?

The shift to CKLA will also include some extra assignments and components for kids who qualify for enrichment, sent out by AEI. If there are certain things that were very valuable (the number of novels read? incorporation of creative writing? specific major assignments?) that we can build consensus around advocating for, then I think we have a decent shot at getting AEI to include at least some of those things in the enrichment materials they provide to schools.

But what are those "most important aspects" of ELC we should be asking for them to preserve? What are the things folks thought worked best and we're most valuable about it? (Curriculum/assignment-wise-- obviously the cohorting is a big deal but everyone knows that already and It is a fight that has to happen at the school level at this point, so if we want to make asks of AEI we should focus on the enrichment overlay they're working on before that gets permanently set in stone.)

My child is a 3rd grader so I have no experience with ELC. Our school is doing model 1 next year so she will get the cohort, but I have no idea what kind of positive aspects of the ELC curriculum she will be missing out on. I am glad to advocate with AEI for those changes if folks can say what they are! (I will also advocate for those things to be included for the Model 2 kids to the maximum amount possible as well, of course, but hopefully you all can get your schools back to Model 1 next year even if it's too late for this year )

My 4th grader is in ELC this year. We have NOT seen the CKLA + Enrichment currriculum so we don't know what it's missing.

Things that work in ELC:
1. actual chapter books, not excerpts from books.
2. advanced writing reports
3. literature circles - small group work
4. reading homework
5. weekly spelling tests

Very interesting, thanks! There were weekly spelling tests in CKLA in 3rd so I assume that will continue in 4th and 5th, but I don't know about the other things you listed.

Would love to hear more about the "advanced writing reports", from PPs or anyone. And was the writing mostly academic/non-fiction writing, or was there creative writing mixed in there too?

Also, curious about what folks think your kids would say they liked the most about ELC or that you thought they seemed most engaged and excited by?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. The ELC curriculum itself is gone. Best message is to keep an advanced class, rather than asking teachers to offer enrichment to just some students in an all-levels class.

i mean it’s worth a try?

Some schools are retaining cohorted classes, but most are not. The time to advocate is now -- this will be a done deal after school ends.

So there's two things people can advocate for:
1) At individual schools, advocating for cohorted classes (will be finalized this month)
2) At the MCPS level, advocating for what they should include in the "extras" added onto the CKLA curriculum for students receiving enrichment (for either model.). I believe the AEI office staff are the ones designing this, and I believe it will be sent out to schools in August.

For #2, if there are things you particularly loved and/or valued about ELC, you could contact AEI to urge them to include some of that in the enrichment materials and resources they are developing and asking schools to layer onto the CKLA curriculum.

The thing I valued about ELC was having it as a separate class. That's going away.

They can put whatever they want as an enrichment resource--we all know that teachers will be focused on struggling students in their class. Kids who need enrichment won't receive it.

So was the value of the ELC only ever just the cohort? The curriculum wasn't that good and there's nothing to worry about losing from it? If all schools did the cohorted model with CKLA, would that be just as good as the ELC and that's the only thing we need to advocate for?

The ELC class, like the CES program, had a completely separate curriculum. It was not using Benchmark nor CKLA.

Yes, exactly. What I'm trying to figure out from folks with familiarity with the ELC is what the most valuable and positive aspects of it were as far as the curriculum/assignments?

The shift to CKLA will also include some extra assignments and components for kids who qualify for enrichment, sent out by AEI. If there are certain things that were very valuable (the number of novels read? incorporation of creative writing? specific major assignments?) that we can build consensus around advocating for, then I think we have a decent shot at getting AEI to include at least some of those things in the enrichment materials they provide to schools.

But what are those "most important aspects" of ELC we should be asking for them to preserve? What are the things folks thought worked best and we're most valuable about it? (Curriculum/assignment-wise-- obviously the cohorting is a big deal but everyone knows that already and It is a fight that has to happen at the school level at this point, so if we want to make asks of AEI we should focus on the enrichment overlay they're working on before that gets permanently set in stone.)

My child is a 3rd grader so I have no experience with ELC. Our school is doing model 1 next year so she will get the cohort, but I have no idea what kind of positive aspects of the ELC curriculum she will be missing out on. I am glad to advocate with AEI for those changes if folks can say what they are! (I will also advocate for those things to be included for the Model 2 kids to the maximum amount possible as well, of course, but hopefully you all can get your schools back to Model 1 next year even if it's too late for this year )

My 4th grader is in ELC this year. We have NOT seen the CKLA + Enrichment curriculum so we don't know what it's missing.

Things that work in ELC:
1. actual chapter books, not excerpts from books.
2. advanced writing reports
3. literature circles - small group work
4. reading homework
5. weekly spelling tests

Very interesting, thanks! There were weekly spelling tests in CKLA in 3rd so I assume that will continue in 4th and 5th, but I don't know about the other things you listed.

Would love to hear more about the "advanced writing reports", from PPs or anyone. And was the writing mostly academic/non-fiction writing, or was there creative writing mixed in there too?

Also, curious about what folks think your kids would say they liked the most about ELC or that you thought they seemed most engaged and excited by?

I'm PP. Off the top of my head, in 4th grade ELC they wrote: a fiction, non-fiction, a book reports, informational reports based on research. They also had weekly short essays based on in-class reading prompts, as well as individual literature circle prompts (each student in the small group was given a different assignment each week).

spelling tests were on some very challenging words that I'm sure were different from the general class.

My son's teacher was awesome. He was most engaged by working with other students on his level and was really pushed by seeing how hard everyone worked. Maybe this is why MCPS is pushing for Model 2, but I am very curious to know how that works at schools like ours with such vast learning needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. The ELC curriculum itself is gone. Best message is to keep an advanced class, rather than asking teachers to offer enrichment to just some students in an all-levels class.

i mean it’s worth a try?

Some schools are retaining cohorted classes, but most are not. The time to advocate is now -- this will be a done deal after school ends.

So there's two things people can advocate for:
1) At individual schools, advocating for cohorted classes (will be finalized this month)
2) At the MCPS level, advocating for what they should include in the "extras" added onto the CKLA curriculum for students receiving enrichment (for either model.). I believe the AEI office staff are the ones designing this, and I believe it will be sent out to schools in August.

For #2, if there are things you particularly loved and/or valued about ELC, you could contact AEI to urge them to include some of that in the enrichment materials and resources they are developing and asking schools to layer onto the CKLA curriculum.

The thing I valued about ELC was having it as a separate class. That's going away.

They can put whatever they want as an enrichment resource--we all know that teachers will be focused on struggling students in their class. Kids who need enrichment won't receive it.

So was the value of the ELC only ever just the cohort? The curriculum wasn't that good and there's nothing to worry about losing from it? If all schools did the cohorted model with CKLA, would that be just as good as the ELC and that's the only thing we need to advocate for?

The ELC class, like the CES program, had a completely separate curriculum. It was not using Benchmark nor CKLA.

Yes, exactly. What I'm trying to figure out from folks with familiarity with the ELC is what the most valuable and positive aspects of it were as far as the curriculum/assignments?

The shift to CKLA will also include some extra assignments and components for kids who qualify for enrichment, sent out by AEI. If there are certain things that were very valuable (the number of novels read? incorporation of creative writing? specific major assignments?) that we can build consensus around advocating for, then I think we have a decent shot at getting AEI to include at least some of those things in the enrichment materials they provide to schools.

But what are those "most important aspects" of ELC we should be asking for them to preserve? What are the things folks thought worked best and we're most valuable about it? (Curriculum/assignment-wise-- obviously the cohorting is a big deal but everyone knows that already and It is a fight that has to happen at the school level at this point, so if we want to make asks of AEI we should focus on the enrichment overlay they're working on before that gets permanently set in stone.)

My child is a 3rd grader so I have no experience with ELC. Our school is doing model 1 next year so she will get the cohort, but I have no idea what kind of positive aspects of the ELC curriculum she will be missing out on. I am glad to advocate with AEI for those changes if folks can say what they are! (I will also advocate for those things to be included for the Model 2 kids to the maximum amount possible as well, of course, but hopefully you all can get your schools back to Model 1 next year even if it's too late for this year )

My 4th grader is in ELC this year. We have NOT seen the CKLA + Enrichment curriculum so we don't know what it's missing.

Things that work in ELC:
1. actual chapter books, not excerpts from books.
2. advanced writing reports
3. literature circles - small group work
4. reading homework
5. weekly spelling tests

Very interesting, thanks! There were weekly spelling tests in CKLA in 3rd so I assume that will continue in 4th and 5th, but I don't know about the other things you listed.

Would love to hear more about the "advanced writing reports", from PPs or anyone. And was the writing mostly academic/non-fiction writing, or was there creative writing mixed in there too?

Also, curious about what folks think your kids would say they liked the most about ELC or that you thought they seemed most engaged and excited by?

I'm PP. Off the top of my head, in 4th grade ELC they wrote: a fiction, non-fiction, a book reports, informational reports based on research. They also had weekly short essays based on in-class reading prompts, as well as individual literature circle prompts (each student in the small group was given a different assignment each week).

spelling tests were on some very challenging words that I'm sure were different from the general class.

My son's teacher was awesome. He was most engaged by working with other students on his level and was really pushed by seeing how hard everyone worked. Maybe this is why MCPS is pushing for Model 2, but I am very curious to know how that works at schools like ours with such vast learning needs.

Oh I alsi liked that they read an autobiography of an author and then read a novel by the author and wrote a report about it. My kid chose Jerry Spinneli and couldn’t wait to tell us about the authors life and how that compared to the book the author wrote.