Amplify CKLA pilot to replace ELC?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Is this also honors for all?

Actually CKLA is teaching all kids to read. With Benchmark they weren't teaching anybody to read except those in ELC.

Some kids figured it out on their own, many families supplemented/hired tutors. Many did not learn to read. Disgraceful.

Okay this is an exaggeration. ELC doesn’t start until 4th grade and Benchmark only was introduced during the pandemic and RGR was added for the last 2-3 years. Obviously many kids were being taught to read, some knew beforehand, some families hired tutors, and some struggled.

Personally if they aren’t going to adopt Core Knowledge overall, I hope they omit the Science and Social Studies CKLA units and instead give that time back to the actual Science and SS curricula. Curricula which should still include vocabulary and thinking questions.

Benchmark did not provide explicit reading instruction. So during the time and in the classrooms they used Benchmark they were not teaching kids to read.

However there was a supplemental phonics curriculum for the last two years. (Really Great Reading)

And who got exposure to that curriculum? Benchmark is actually detrimental to strong reading skills so everyone was essentially getting untaught.

I have a current 3rd grader. The entire grade used really great reading (RGR) in both 1st and 2nd grader, along with benchmark.

So they had some reading instruction, and some instruction on how to read improperly

No they had phonics instruction, Dibrls testing or MAP-R testing for those in Grades 3-5, and then Benchmark worked on language, close reading and comprehension.

Varied widely in practice between schools, and sometimes between teachers in the same school. I realize that is not the theory but it was the reality.

What's to say things still don't vary widely with CKLA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD had some phonics in K because I think her teacher was old school. She had RGR in 1st and 2nd combined with Benchmark and now CKLA in 3rd. She really likes what she is learning and the work is more challenging. I'm curious to hear how Amplify compares to ELC.
My DD is in a title 1 school that does WIN time (What I Need) so she gets pulled for 4x/30 minutes weekly enrichment with other high flyers.

What are they doing for enrichment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CKLA is not computer games.

Obviously there's much more to the CKLA curriculum than the computer games. But is there any other enrichment/differentiation for advanced learners in Amplify CKLA besides them getting more challenging content in the adaptive computer games ("Boost Reading," I think it's called-- not sure how much time they spend on that in a typical week)? Are they getting anything extra in the pilot?

[Anonymous]

According to my daughter (3rd grader) - they work on the 4th grade packet (I have no idea what is in the packet, I think vocab, word searches, etc) , they do some online work on Boost. They also practice taking notes. It's a para educator running the group.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD had some phonics in K because I think her teacher was old school. She had RGR in 1st and 2nd combined with Benchmark and now CKLA in 3rd. She really likes what she is learning and the work is more challenging. I'm curious to hear how Amplify compares to ELC.
My DD is in a title 1 school that does WIN time (What I Need) so she gets pulled for 4x/30 minutes weekly enrichment with other high flyers.

What are they doing for enrichment?[/quote]

[Anonymous]

So yesterday the CES/Central Review document section about kids who don't get picked for CES had some language in it talking about the ELC, but it appears to have been deleted and now just says "All elementary schools will provide literacy enrichment for students who met the central review criteria and are not placed in the CES by lottery. Models of enrichment may vary by school. Please contact your local school to learn more.". Do we think that means that the ELC will not be available next year? Or that it will be up to schools whether they want to use the ELC or not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So yesterday the CES/Central Review document section about kids who don't get picked for CES had some language in it talking about the ELC, but it appears to have been deleted and now just says "All elementary schools will provide literacy enrichment for students who met the central review criteria and are not placed in the CES by lottery. Models of enrichment may vary by school. Please contact your local school to learn more.". Do we think that means that the ELC will not be available next year? Or that it will be up to schools whether they want to use the ELC or not?

I still see that note under question 13 in the FAQ. What that says to me is that parents should get completely clear from their school on the model currently in use for ELC and what model they are planning to use next year. ALSO that clarity should be distributed in an email/paper message to all 3rd and 4th grade students AND published on the school’s website either in a section about Literacy or Parent Resource.

The above clarifications questions should be asked of the following persons :
1) Principal
2) School Gifted Coordinator
3) School Reading Specialist
4) Optional: School Staff Development Teacher

[Anonymous]

Good luck, folks. I have no dog in this fight because my kids are in middle school. But from personal experience, anytime MCPS has said there are “built in” extensions in the regular curriculum that can be offered to students to provide enrichment, they do not generally get offered. Or, in the rare instance they do, the teacher will say, “If you’re finished early you can do this extra work on your own, or you may read to yourself or play XYZ game on the Chromebook.” The ELC is a good curriculum that advocates fought hard to bring to all schools. I have no intel about the actual plan, but it would be really unfortunate to remove it if the alternative won’t provide equivalent enrichment with fidelity.

[Anonymous]

I think they will be getting rid of ELC next year. It'll be CKLA + enrichment (likely in WIN time).

[Anonymous]

So has ELC traditionally been a separate class then for those not in the CES? This is truly disheartening for someone with a kid at a high Lexile/99th percentile on the MAP. My kid gets math through RSM outside school but what can I do on the literacy side?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So has ELC traditionally been a separate class then for those not in the CES? This is truly disheartening for someone with a kid at a high Lexile/99th percentile on the MAP. My kid gets math through RSM outside school but what can I do on the literacy side?

Yes, in some schools it is a separate class. But in others, it is ELC for all. There are also some schools where they don't have enough of a cohort for a full class so they are placed in the regular class but supposedly do ELC within the regular class.

[Anonymous]

I was a PP whose 3rd grade DD is getting CKLA plus enrichment in 3rd grade. More specifically it's being done during WIN time with about 8 other students. There seems to be other groups meeting during this time but since she is at the 97th percentile, I am assuming she is in one of the higher groups. She's at a title 1 school. Do other non title 1 schools have WIN time?

Anonymous wrote:I think they will be getting rid of ELC next year. It'll be CKLA + enrichment (likely in WIN time).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a PP whose 3rd grade DD is getting CKLA plus enrichment in 3rd grade. More specifically it's being done during WIN time with about 8 other students. There seems to be other groups meeting during this time but since she is at the 97th percentile, I am assuming she is in one of the higher groups. She's at a title 1 school. Do other non title 1 schools have WIN time?

Anonymous wrote:I think they will be getting rid of ELC next year. It'll be CKLA + enrichment (likely in WIN time).

I think my 3rd grader has [school mascot] time once a week but it’s not for enrichment (I think that’s when they do SEL work). As far as I know she gets enrichment in math (ie gets some worksheets to do if she chooses) but that’s it…there have been no small groups or anything for reading this year for her (she says the students who are struggling do meet with the teacher and she does partner reading but not with the teacher).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a PP whose 3rd grade DD is getting CKLA plus enrichment in 3rd grade. More specifically it's being done during WIN time with about 8 other students. There seems to be other groups meeting during this time but since she is at the 97th percentile, I am assuming she is in one of the higher groups. She's at a title 1 school. Do other non title 1 schools have WIN time?

Anonymous wrote:I think they will be getting rid of ELC next year. It'll be CKLA + enrichment (likely in WIN time).

Yes. We are at a non-Title I, non-focus school and our kid has WIN time 4 days a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So yesterday the CES/Central Review document section about kids who don't get picked for CES had some language in it talking about the ELC, but it appears to have been deleted and now just says "All elementary schools will provide literacy enrichment for students who met the central review criteria and are not placed in the CES by lottery. Models of enrichment may vary by school. Please contact your local school to learn more.". Do we think that means that the ELC will not be available next year? Or that it will be up to schools whether they want to use the ELC or not?

I still see that note under question 13 in the FAQ. What that says to me is that parents should get completely clear from their school on the model currently in use for ELC and what model they are planning to use next year. ALSO that clarity should be distributed in an email/paper message to all 3rd and 4th grade students AND published on the school’s website either in a section about Literacy or Parent Resource.

The above clarifications questions should be asked of the following persons :
1) Principal
2) School Gifted Coordinator
3) School Reading Specialist
4) Optional: School Staff Development Teacher

Yes, the note is still there. But on Thursday there were two paragraphs, one a description of the ELC (maybe the same as last year) and then the language above or something like it was the second paragraph. So between Thursday and Friday that first paragraph was deleted. Not sure if they cut the ELC paragraph because some schools won't be doing ELC, or because all schools will be prohibited from doing ELC...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good luck, folks. I have no dog in this fight because my kids are in middle school. But from personal experience, anytime MCPS has said there are “built in” extensions in the regular curriculum that can be offered to students to provide enrichment, they do not generally get offered. Or, in the rare instance they do, the teacher will say, “If you’re finished early you can do this extra work on your own, or you may read to yourself or play XYZ game on the Chromebook.” The ELC is a good curriculum that advocates fought hard to bring to all schools. I have no intel about the actual plan, but it would be really unfortunate to remove it if the alternative won’t provide equivalent enrichment with fidelity.

+100. People worked hard to be sure that all schools could offer ELC. Before letting them get rid of it, I would suggest current ES parents be REALLY SURE that “Extras” from CKLA will match the same level as ELC contentAND have a clear understanding how the model will be to deliver extras. ELC was/is not something extra it’s an actual class and that makes a big difference.

Example questions :
1) Do all grade 4&5 teachers have access to the extras?
2) How have teachers been using the extra this year?
3)What model will be used for kids who should be in ELC?
4) Will the students who should be getting ELC be doing the supplemental questions/work initially or will they be having to do it as extra work?
5) If it’s not a separate class how will school ensure ELC level students are getting time for book discussion, review, and supplemental work feedback?