APS and Lexia

[Anonymous]

OP here, my daughter’s Lexia goal is an hour a week. I have minimal issue with that goal amount as long as appropriate time is given during class time and she isn’t missing out on other learning opportunities.

The fact that she was told to do Lexia instead of writing (a subject she struggles with) and math (her favorite subject) is concerning.

[Anonymous]

APS teacher here. We are getting tremendous pressure from the county for our students to participate and meet their targets in Lexia each week. It’s a new program and if you don’t put the minutes in you won’t progress. If not everyone uses it there isn’t a way to determine it’s effectiveness. What level a student is on doesn’t reflect on me but if a student doesn’t do lexia during the time I set aside for them to do it, what are they doing? It’s frustrating for me as a teacher but the county has determined this is not optional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lexus is ridiculous. My 3rd grader hates it and randomly drops words here and there and clicks on things just to get it moving, so it says she’s on a 1st grade reading level. She wasn’t at a 1st grade level when she was actually in 1st grade. So she refuses to do it. And I won’t make her.

This is exactly what my kids do. I keep trying to tell them that if they just take it seriously, they will have a better experience. It’s unfortunate that the teachers don’t seem to be willing to increase the levels to provide more of a challenge.

The teachers do not want to increase the levels because then their (the teacher’s) Lexia profile could go down.

Nope, not true about the teacher’s “profile” going down. That’s not even a thing.

As teachers, we can’t just raise the levels. We’ve been told the kids need to work through the levels. My school only gave the ok to raise a child’s level when there was a software bug that prevented a student from completing a level she was almost done with anyway.

I have found that there’s really not enough time in this shortened school day to get all the Lexia time and all the Dreambox lessons in. The programs can be used after school, however.

OP, I’m really sorry your child’s teacher is keeping kids out of math or writing, or even worse, closing activities, due to Lexia time. That’s not my cup of tea, nor would it ever be allowed at my school, but I guess there are people who do that. Sigh.

If you get the time in after school though, hopefully that should avoid this problem. Be aware though, Lexia goals can and do change, so be sure to check each week so you know what the current goal is.

[Anonymous]

I think for DL it's a great use of student's time. They are getting direct instruction on ELA specialized for their level.

We sometimes have scheduling challenges, but always try to get the minutes in - even on weekends if we have to.

[Anonymous]

An hour a week is 12 minutes a day. That isn't that long and it is a good program. There is no excuse except for emergencies why your daughter can't do 12 minutes a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APS teacher here. We are getting tremendous pressure from the county for our students to participate and meet their targets in Lexia each week. It’s a new program and if you don’t put the minutes in you won’t progress. If not everyone uses it there isn’t a way to determine it’s effectiveness. What level a student is on doesn’t reflect on me but if a student doesn’t do lexia during the time I set aside for them to do it, what are they doing? It’s frustrating for me as a teacher but the county has determined this is not optional.

Well as for my son he is zoning out or reading a book unless I tell him to do his Lexia.

It sounds like it’s a good concept but kind of unworkable in a distance learning environment. I wish they wound just bag it and try again later. Sorry you as a teacher have to deal with all this.

[Anonymous]

Yes - exactly 12 mins a day is really not a big deal... to practice spelling etc

[Anonymous]

OP, while I understand your concern, it might be time to sit with her a few minutes each time that lesson/Lexia time is assigned. Helping to keep her on track for a few minutes would solve this. Also, you could see if teacher is open to the Lexia being completed after school. I’m giving ours the option to do app content outside of school hours if they read during that time.

[Anonymous]

Lexia is only slightly better than showing a YouTube video. It’s a total waste.

[Anonymous]

In my view Lexia is practically the only worthwhile thing that happens in dl

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, while I understand your concern, it might be time to sit with her a few minutes each time that lesson/Lexia time is assigned. Helping to keep her on track for a few minutes would solve this. Also, you could see if teacher is open to the Lexia being completed after school. I’m giving ours the option to do app content outside of school hours if they read during that time.

OP here again. Thank you all for helping me figure out what questions I should be asking her teacher. I’ve asked her some but they clearly weren’t the right ones since the answers were still unclear.

I do sit with her for most of the day. We have four other kids doing school at our house so my full attention isn’t on her all the time and I think that’s pretty common. I’m going to try to better understand when I should be seeing her on Lexia during the day. It’s much less clear with her teacher than it is with my third grader’s.

It’s frustrating to me that she often spends more time and energy on her school work during the day than my older ones do. I know it frustrates her sometimes too. This last Monday was the first in a long time where we have been done working on asynchronous work before 5...she and I are often exhausted at the end of the school day so I’m hesitant to have her do Lexia after school. Maybe I should see if I can figure out when the goal resets. If it’s Friday night, I could probably get her to do a reasonable chunk on the weekend and that would certainly be helpful and less overwhelming during the week. I know 12 minutes a day doesn’t sound like a lot but we are also supposed to do 20 minutes of reading after school so it’s an extra half an hour that maybe I just need to block into my after school scheduling.

[Anonymous]

But making kids work through the level is stupid. It doesn’t magically catch up when it sees what kids can do- it forces them to rehash material that may be behind them. I get that APS has invested in it and teachers have to use it. But it’s such a waste of time for my kid that I don’t care if it’s done or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, while I understand your concern, it might be time to sit with her a few minutes each time that lesson/Lexia time is assigned. Helping to keep her on track for a few minutes would solve this. Also, you could see if teacher is open to the Lexia being completed after school. I’m giving ours the option to do app content outside of school hours if they read during that time.

OP here again. Thank you all for helping me figure out what questions I should be asking her teacher. I’ve asked her some but they clearly weren’t the right ones since the answers were still unclear.

I do sit with her for most of the day. We have four other kids doing school at our house so my full attention isn’t on her all the time and I think that’s pretty common. I’m going to try to better understand when I should be seeing her on Lexia during the day. It’s much less clear with her teacher than it is with my third grader’s.

It’s frustrating to me that she often spends more time and energy on her school work during the day than my older ones do. I know it frustrates her sometimes too. This last Monday was the first in a long time where we have been done working on asynchronous work before 5...she and I are often exhausted at the end of the school day so I’m hesitant to have her do Lexia after school. Maybe I should see if I can figure out when the goal resets. If it’s Friday night, I could probably get her to do a reasonable chunk on the weekend and that would certainly be helpful and less overwhelming during the week. I know 12 minutes a day doesn’t sound like a lot but we are also supposed to do 20 minutes of reading after school so it’s an extra half an hour that maybe I just need to block into my after school scheduling.

My kindergartner is done with his asynchronous work on Mondays in less than an hour. Is your kid's teacher assigning an unreasonable amount for a 1st grader to do on her own?

[Anonymous]

It’s probably required bc it’s “teaching” hours. It’s down now fwiw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my view Lexia is practically the only worthwhile thing that happens in dl

Same. I think it’s actually helpful for my very behind first grader. It’s like torture getting him to do it though.