grade 7 SOL english 495

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The English instruction is poor in MS. What has your student really learned in 7th or 8th grade English. They only read 1 book the whole year. There are no vocabulary or grammar lessons. There is an essay or speech each quarter, but it’s very scaffolded with little leeway. No working on analogies, etc. There is little to no feedback on writing. Very poor instruction on how to improve writing. No comments. No working 1-1. No writing and the re-writing. Just a turn-in. Time management is even poor. That’s all problematic in MS.

That might be the case at your middle school, but that's not our experience at our middle school.

My child gets detailed feedback on every writing assignment, including on all the quick responses she completes in No Red Ink. She has a major essay and at least four quick responses every quarter and there is detailed feedback and suggestions on every one of them.

My child has vocabulary units every quarter and they get tested on Latin and Greek roots, suffixes, prefixes, and context clues.

My child had had a lot of grammar instruction and has been tested every quarter. She has No Red Ink practice due every two weeks to practice the skills she's been taught in class.

Her ELA class also reads a lot of short stories, articles, poems, and personal essays. They've also read two novels so far in class and are currently reading a third.

Congrats, you won the thread. Your child has the best of everything. You must be so proud.

+1 DP here. My child went to Carson and didn’t have that experience at all. It’s teacher dependent.

Of course it is teacher-dependent! That is the point, and that is why it is ridiculous to say/write, "The English instruction is poor in MS... They only read 1 book the whole year. There are no vocabulary or grammar lessons. There is an essay or speech each quarter, but it’s very scaffolded with little leeway. No working on analogies, etc. There is little to no feedback on writing. Very poor instruction on how to improve writing. No comments. No working 1-1. No writing and the re-writing. Just a turn-in. Time management is even poor. That’s all problematic in MS," which is what the PP wrote. I'm sure some MS English instruction is poor, but not all of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was is your point, OP? My child has a 100% in English and got a 430 on her reading SOL. She is dyslexic, reading is challenging, but she's super smart and a hard worker. We don't measure our children's worth in SOL scores.

The state will force you to value it next year! That 430 will soon be a failing score as they raise the minimum passing scores, and then 10% of her year long grade will be a failing score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was is your point, OP? My child has a 100% in English and got a 430 on her reading SOL. She is dyslexic, reading is challenging, but she's super smart and a hard worker. We don't measure our children's worth in SOL scores.

The state will force you to value it next year! That 430 will soon be a failing score as they raise the minimum passing scores, and then 10% of her year long grade will be a failing score.

We don’t know yet exactly how schools plan to take the SOL scores and turn them into a grade for the gradebook. Stop making stuff up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The English instruction is poor in MS. What has your student really learned in 7th or 8th grade English. They only read 1 book the whole year. There are no vocabulary or grammar lessons. There is an essay or speech each quarter, but it’s very scaffolded with little leeway. No working on analogies, etc. There is little to no feedback on writing. Very poor instruction on how to improve writing. No comments. No working 1-1. No writing and the re-writing. Just a turn-in. Time management is even poor. That’s all problematic in MS.

When did you last have a child in middle school, PP? It sounds like 10+ years ago because my 7th grader absolutely had vocabulary and grammar lessons.

we are currently experiencing this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The English instruction is poor in MS. What has your student really learned in 7th or 8th grade English. They only read 1 book the whole year. There are no vocabulary or grammar lessons. There is an essay or speech each quarter, but it’s very scaffolded with little leeway. No working on analogies, etc. There is little to no feedback on writing. Very poor instruction on how to improve writing. No comments. No working 1-1. No writing and the re-writing. Just a turn-in. Time management is even poor. That’s all problematic in MS.

When did you last have a child in middle school, PP? It sounds like 10+ years ago because my 7th grader absolutely had vocabulary and grammar lessons.

we are currently experiencing this.

It is a school-specific issue or a teacher-specific issue if your child isnt having a good experience with the curriculum. It isn't a universal problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The English instruction is poor in MS. What has your student really learned in 7th or 8th grade English. They only read 1 book the whole year. There are no vocabulary or grammar lessons. There is an essay or speech each quarter, but it’s very scaffolded with little leeway. No working on analogies, etc. There is little to no feedback on writing. Very poor instruction on how to improve writing. No comments. No working 1-1. No writing and the re-writing. Just a turn-in. Time management is even poor. That’s all problematic in MS.

This! Been a problem for the past 9 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was is your point, OP? My child has a 100% in English and got a 430 on her reading SOL. She is dyslexic, reading is challenging, but she's super smart and a hard worker. We don't measure our children's worth in SOL scores.

The state will force you to value it next year! That 430 will soon be a failing score as they raise the minimum passing scores, and then 10% of her year long grade will be a failing score.

We don’t know yet exactly how schools plan to take the SOL scores and turn them into a grade for the gradebook. Stop making stuff up.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The English instruction is poor in MS. What has your student really learned in 7th or 8th grade English. They only read 1 book the whole year. There are no vocabulary or grammar lessons. There is an essay or speech each quarter, but it’s very scaffolded with little leeway. No working on analogies, etc. There is little to no feedback on writing. Very poor instruction on how to improve writing. No comments. No working 1-1. No writing and the re-writing. Just a turn-in. Time management is even poor. That’s all problematic in MS.

My 7th grader learned enough to score 586, so this is apparently not universal. 🙄

(FWIW, I don’t think standardized testing necessarily reflects anything, but the generalization here is dumb.)

[Anonymous]

My child barely passed this year with a 434. Every year it’s gotten worse and worse. Yet she has a solid A in English. Her LA teacher last year wasn’t good. I don’t think they do enough reading period. They need to practice reading passages and answering questions.

[Anonymous]

Everyone saying their kids got lower scores, are your kids in honors or not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone saying their kids got lower scores, are your kids in honors or not?

Mine is in AAP at Carson, 521. I think last year he had a 560something. So he might have gotten one more question wrong or the same number of correct answers but one that was weighted more. Honestly, the SOL means little to nothing. It is good practice for when he takes the SAT in a few years, that is about it.

[Anonymous]

I don't think the SOL is a very accurate representation of a child's abilities. I wouldn't worry about it this year, OP.

I really do want to know how things will be implemented next year - my child has dyslexia and processing issues and does very poorly on standardized tests. I wonder if having some sort of learning disability will exempt him from having the SOL be a portion of his grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone saying their kids got lower scores, are your kids in honors or not?

Yes, honors. Barely passed with a 435

[Anonymous]

It could be great inflation that everyone keeps talking about. Some people are just not good test takers that could be another reason and there’s some people that might need accommodations for these tests that they’re not getting. Could be a whole bunch of different reasons why the scores don’t correlate to this grade in class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child barely passed this year with a 434. Every year it’s gotten worse and worse. Yet she has a solid A in English. Her LA teacher last year wasn’t good. I don’t think they do enough reading period. They need to practice reading passages and answering questions.

They also need to do far more reading at home. Some of my daughter's friends brag about the fact that they only read one or two books per year. These girls are all in honors English and they don't read for pleasure? That is shocking to me.

Even my own kids read far less than I think they should, but each of my teens finish at least 20 books per year. I would love to seem them read closer to 40-50 books each year, but at least they are reading things that interest them.