What should Public schools do for your child if she reads 3 grades above ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading levels are minimum levels needed to do well at the grade a child is in. Try not to get to puffed up with pride over this. I have never met any child from a middle class socioeconomic background without learning difficulties who wasn't at least 2 to 3 levels above grade level in reading. It's normal.

Read different types of fiction in different formats - poetry, short story collections, fairy tales, fables.

Don't discount picture books either. Many are longer and filled with more difficult text and the illustrations are great. Everyone likes to see beautiful illustrations while they are reading. It helps bring stories more alive.

Reading fiction is one thing but reading non-fiction and gaining understanding from it is another. So have your child read more advanced non-fiction texts in various formats - newspapers, trade journals, general news magazines, etc.

If a child is reading well, then focus on writing and learning to write well. Now is a great time to teach a child who to write a general essay on a topic as well as teaching how to write a critical response to a reading.

really? all kids are ahead? I'm not being snarky - I'm trying to get a handle on whether or not the benchmark reading levels are actually "low". My DD is just barely meeting them and we are very concerned.

Benchmarks for "grade level" are set at the 25th or 16th percentiles- depending on what is being assessed. They are not set at the 50th percentile. So a student can be "above grade level" yet still be below the 50th percentile. If your child is above average for intelligence and barely meeting grade level for reading, I would get an assessment- especially if she is in 2nd grade or higher. If your child is in 1st grade or lower, talk to the teacher (if your teacher is not experienced- find one who is) to see if she/he sees any red flags.

My children attended one of the highly regarded ES in McLean and in 2nd grade only one child tested below grade level for reading out of 80 or so. (My child was the one who we below grade level and he has several LDs.)

how do you know they are set at 25th or 16th percentile. We are in MCPS - is it the same there? (this is PP with concerns about DD).

[Anonymous]

You are not going to convince anyone that being the parent of an advanced learner is a harder row to hoe than being the parent of a child with special needs.

Totally agree.
I am the parent of a grown highly gifted kid. The only true special needs kids that are highly gifted are those whose parents emotionally stunt their growth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At least you have law protecting SN, at least you have SN consultants, even if they are expensive. That's a lot more than what anyone else has.

LOL. You're actually envious of SN kids and their parents!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading levels are minimum levels needed to do well at the grade a child is in. Try not to get to puffed up with pride over this. I have never met any child from a middle class socioeconomic background without learning difficulties who wasn't at least 2 to 3 levels above grade level in reading. It's normal.

Read different types of fiction in different formats - poetry, short story collections, fairy tales, fables.

Don't discount picture books either. Many are longer and filled with more difficult text and the illustrations are great. Everyone likes to see beautiful illustrations while they are reading. It helps bring stories more alive.

Reading fiction is one thing but reading non-fiction and gaining understanding from it is another. So have your child read more advanced non-fiction texts in various formats - newspapers, trade journals, general news magazines, etc.

If a child is reading well, then focus on writing and learning to write well. Now is a great time to teach a child who to write a general essay on a topic as well as teaching how to write a critical response to a reading.

really? all kids are ahead? I'm not being snarky - I'm trying to get a handle on whether or not the benchmark reading levels are actually "low". My DD is just barely meeting them and we are very concerned.

Benchmarks for "grade level" are set at the 25th or 16th percentiles- depending on what is being assessed. They are not set at the 50th percentile. So a student can be "above grade level" yet still be below the 50th percentile. If your child is above average for intelligence and barely meeting grade level for reading, I would get an assessment- especially if she is in 2nd grade or higher. If your child is in 1st grade or lower, talk to the teacher (if your teacher is not experienced- find one who is) to see if she/he sees any red flags.

My children attended one of the highly regarded ES in McLean and in 2nd grade only one child tested below grade level for reading out of 80 or so. (My child was the one who we below grade level and he has several LDs.)

how do you know they are set at 25th or 16th percentile. We are in MCPS - is it the same there? (this is PP with concerns about DD).

Ask the person who administers the test- they should know or can find out. If you know the name of the test, you may be able to find out by googling it. If it set at the 25th percentile- then "average" is usually the middle 50% (from 25-75th). If it is set at the 16th percentile- then "average" is usually one standard deviation above and below the median.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You are not going to convince anyone that being the parent of an advanced learner is a harder row to hoe than being the parent of a child with special needs.

Totally agree.
I am the parent of a grown highly gifted kid. The only true special needs kids that are highly gifted are those whose parents emotionally stunt their growth.

I have to strongly disagree. I grew up as a highly gifted kid, school bored me to tears, and I feel my middle school and high school experiences were the things that did the most to intellectually, socially and emotionally stunt my growth. The only thing that kept me going was being able to read and study on my own outside of school - and even that was difficult, as I grew up with a single mom, and she worked 2 jobs to support us. I breezed through the curriculum but I learned early on that I would get bullied, harrassed and beaten up if other kids ever saw my grades (straight-A), or if I ever spoke up or participated in the classroom, so most of the time I sat quietly in the back of the room, kept to myself and would have to sneak books in and read them under my desk, or write in a journal, or do other things just to keep from being frustrated with boredom, because to me, the class moved at a snail's pace and rehashed and rehashed material I already mastered long ago. I *never* had to study for tests, never had to work hard, was never challenged, and consequently feel I was totally unprepared when I got into college and finally encountered some challenging coursework for the first time. Anyone saying it's not a problem or that it's all good really has no sound basis, no experience and has no clue whatsoever of what gifted kids go through.

[Anonymous]

What I want to know is, why the strenuous, repeated objections? What's your dog in this hunt? It's not as though anyone here is arguing to take anything away from anyone else. Are you arguing just because it's not something you think you would directly benefiting from it? That would be as untenable of an argument as saying "my kid isn't athletic, he's uncoordinated and clumsy, therefore, I think we should not have athletic programs at schools."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading levels are minimum levels needed to do well at the grade a child is in. Try not to get to puffed up with pride over this. I have never met any child from a middle class socioeconomic background without learning difficulties who wasn't at least 2 to 3 levels above grade level in reading. It's normal.

Read different types of fiction in different formats - poetry, short story collections, fairy tales, fables.

Don't discount picture books either. Many are longer and filled with more difficult text and the illustrations are great. Everyone likes to see beautiful illustrations while they are reading. It helps bring stories more alive.

Reading fiction is one thing but reading non-fiction and gaining understanding from it is another. So have your child read more advanced non-fiction texts in various formats - newspapers, trade journals, general news magazines, etc.

If a child is reading well, then focus on writing and learning to write well. Now is a great time to teach a child who to write a general essay on a topic as well as teaching how to write a critical response to a reading.

really? all kids are ahead? I'm not being snarky - I'm trying to get a handle on whether or not the benchmark reading levels are actually "low". My DD is just barely meeting them and we are very concerned.

Benchmarks for "grade level" are set at the 25th or 16th percentiles- depending on what is being assessed. They are not set at the 50th percentile. So a student can be "above grade level" yet still be below the 50th percentile. If your child is above average for intelligence and barely meeting grade level for reading, I would get an assessment- especially if she is in 2nd grade or higher. If your child is in 1st grade or lower, talk to the teacher (if your teacher is not experienced- find one who is) to see if she/he sees any red flags.

My children attended one of the highly regarded ES in McLean and in 2nd grade only one child tested below grade level for reading out of 80 or so. (My child was the one who we below grade level and he has several LDs.)

how do you know they are set at 25th or 16th percentile. We are in MCPS - is it the same there? (this is PP with concerns about DD).

Ask the person who administers the test- they should know or can find out. If you know the name of the test, you may be able to find out by googling it. If it set at the 25th percentile- then "average" is usually the middle 50% (from 25-75th). If it is set at the 16th percentile- then "average" is usually one standard deviation above and below the median.

I'm not talking about tests. I'm talking about reading levels - they have certain level they expect by the of each grade. Are those levels really low?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading levels are minimum levels needed to do well at the grade a child is in. Try not to get to puffed up with pride over this. I have never met any child from a middle class socioeconomic background without learning difficulties who wasn't at least 2 to 3 levels above grade level in reading. It's normal.

Read different types of fiction in different formats - poetry, short story collections, fairy tales, fables.

Don't discount picture books either. Many are longer and filled with more difficult text and the illustrations are great. Everyone likes to see beautiful illustrations while they are reading. It helps bring stories more alive.

Reading fiction is one thing but reading non-fiction and gaining understanding from it is another. So have your child read more advanced non-fiction texts in various formats - newspapers, trade journals, general news magazines, etc.

If a child is reading well, then focus on writing and learning to write well. Now is a great time to teach a child who to write a general essay on a topic as well as teaching how to write a critical response to a reading.

really? all kids are ahead? I'm not being snarky - I'm trying to get a handle on whether or not the benchmark reading levels are actually "low". My DD is just barely meeting them and we are very concerned.

Benchmarks for "grade level" are set at the 25th or 16th percentiles- depending on what is being assessed. They are not set at the 50th percentile. So a student can be "above grade level" yet still be below the 50th percentile. If your child is above average for intelligence and barely meeting grade level for reading, I would get an assessment- especially if she is in 2nd grade or higher. If your child is in 1st grade or lower, talk to the teacher (if your teacher is not experienced- find one who is) to see if she/he sees any red flags.

My children attended one of the highly regarded ES in McLean and in 2nd grade only one child tested below grade level for reading out of 80 or so. (My child was the one who we below grade level and he has several LDs.)

how do you know they are set at 25th or 16th percentile. We are in MCPS - is it the same there? (this is PP with concerns about DD).

Ask the person who administers the test- they should know or can find out. If you know the name of the test, you may be able to find out by googling it. If it set at the 25th percentile- then "average" is usually the middle 50% (from 25-75th). If it is set at the 16th percentile- then "average" is usually one standard deviation above and below the median.

I'm not talking about tests. I'm talking about reading levels - they have certain level they expect by the of each grade. Are those levels really low?

You are talking about tests. You are talking about the reading test teachers give to determine what reading level a student is. The benchmark levels are set at the 25th or 16th percentile depending on the reading test done. "At grade level" is determined by being at or above the middle 50% (the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile) OR between one standard deviation above or below the median (~16th percentile - ~84th percentile).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I want to know is, why the strenuous, repeated objections? What's your dog in this hunt? It's not as though anyone here is arguing to take anything away from anyone else. Are you arguing just because it's not something you think you would directly benefiting from it? That would be as untenable of an argument as saying "my kid isn't athletic, he's uncoordinated and clumsy, therefore, I think we should not have athletic programs at schools."

If you mean pointing out that the OP's arguments are flawed and have no basis in fact.....well, I guess I am objecting - and wondering why she doesn't do something about it except repeat her unsubstantiated opinions. Why can't OP provide some evidence that there's a problem?

Your analogy of athletics in schools is just as flawed (and makes me think you're the OP). A better analogy would be your kid is athletic but the school's athletic program isn't sufficiently challenging for her. You want the school to provide Olympic/professional level athletics because without it, your DD will never reach her potential, she'll grow bored with the program and feel bad about herself. Or, the school refuses to acknowledge her athleticism and she's falling behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I want to know is, why the strenuous, repeated objections? What's your dog in this hunt? It's not as though anyone here is arguing to take anything away from anyone else. Are you arguing just because it's not something you think you would directly benefiting from it? That would be as untenable of an argument as saying "my kid isn't athletic, he's uncoordinated and clumsy, therefore, I think we should not have athletic programs at schools."

If you mean pointing out that the OP's arguments are flawed and have no basis in fact.....well, I guess I am objecting - and wondering why she doesn't do something about it except repeat her unsubstantiated opinions. Why can't OP provide some evidence that there's a problem?

Your analogy of athletics in schools is just as flawed (and makes me think you're the OP). A better analogy would be your kid is athletic but the school's athletic program isn't sufficiently challenging for her. You want the school to provide Olympic/professional level athletics because without it, your DD will never reach her potential, she'll grow bored with the program and feel bad about herself. Or, the school refuses to acknowledge her athleticism and she's falling behind.

Schools are supposed to meet students' academic needs. When students are wasting a large percentage of their time in school, their academic needs aren't being met.

You deflected didn't answer the question, what is your dog in this hunt? Why are you arguing so strenuously against it? Just to be contrarian, because your unwillingness to accept that it's a problem somehow magically makes the problem go away? Sorry, that doesn't cut it.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure what exactly you want to be done. I have been exposed to a lot of gifted programs--The magnets that group high achievers together and instruct exactly one year ahead? The enrichment programs that pull out once a week and do a project on Egypt? IMO, these programs are not much better than a good teacher differentiating where she can in the general ed classroom.

The truth is a child reading at a 6th grade level in third grade will be fine with a third grade language arts program. A reading level is a very small part of the whole program. Math is trickier IMO. There seems to be an urge to expose a child to higher math sooner, but in reality there is a lot a child can be exposed to without pushing them forward that will enrich their conceptual understanding.

[Anonymous]

If you live in Montgomery County The Department of Enriched and Innovative Programs has several programs for gifted children. Our school identified one of my sons 4 years ago and moved him into a more challenging classes. They even have summer programs for gifted children which he loves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you live in Montgomery County The Department of Enriched and Innovative Programs has several programs for gifted children. Our school identified one of my sons 4 years ago and moved him into a more challenging classes. They even have summer programs for gifted children which he loves.

Summer programs? Do tell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure what exactly you want to be done. I have been exposed to a lot of gifted programs--The magnets that group high achievers together and instruct exactly one year ahead? The enrichment programs that pull out once a week and do a project on Egypt? IMO, these programs are not much better than a good teacher differentiating where she can in the general ed classroom.

The truth is a child reading at a 6th grade level in third grade will be fine with a third grade language arts program. A reading level is a very small part of the whole program. Math is trickier IMO. There seems to be an urge to expose a child to higher math sooner, but in reality there is a lot a child can be exposed to without pushing them forward that will enrich their conceptual understanding.

Teachers who are truly good at in-class differentiating are unfortunately really few and far between.

[Anonymous]

Teachers who are truly good at in-class differentiating are unfortunately really few and far between.

Was a lot better before all the new standards and testing.