Benchmark questions for 3rd grader have me questioning my sanity

[Anonymous]

When my kid was in kindergarten/first grade, I regularly did not know the answer to multiple choice questions she was given on reading comprehension. I would take them to a lunch gathering at work and we would debate what the answer should be — I’m talking Harvard, Yale, Stanford-educated lawyers. So no, you’re not alone OP. (These we’re not constructed by the teachers. The teachers were fantastic).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The essential question of the unit your child is working in is the following:

How do our actions influence our lives?
In this unit, students will read and compare stories, poems, and myths to analyze characters and understand how their actions shape events.

There are times when what you say and do can directly impact others. You may not even know you are causing them problems. There are also times when you do nothing, and that too has a similar impact.

For instance (this text is used in the unit):
In paragraph 19, King Midas makes a wish to be able to turn everything he touches into gold. This soon causes problems for Midas, as even his food turns to gold he can’t eat! Midas’s next action is to hug his beloved daughter, who tried to comfort him. This action causes her to turn to gold! In response, Midas pleads with Dionysus to take his power away. This action summons Dionysus, who tells Midas to wash his hands in the river, which Midas does “until they were as red as bricks.” This action contributes to the story by bringing it to its resolution: Midas and his daughter return to normal.

Students are asked to do the following with guided practice:

How Dionysus’s actions in these paragraphs contribute to the events of the story?

Annotate! Circle story events that are caused by this character’s actions.

Students should identify that Dionysus’s actions in these paragraphs contribute to the resolution of the story because they rid Midas of his curse and turn his daughter back to normal.

OP here-- I appreciate you typing this out or pasting it.

These are better questions than the one I shared in the OP. Some thoughts:

I don't love the way they seem to call things "story events" that are separate from "characters' actions." I understand this may be a semantic issue, and they have terminology they are following, although I'm not convinced that terminology is consistent!

But what makes "Midas and his daughter return to normal" a "story event" and "Midas washes his hands per Dionysus's instructions, which returns things back to normal" not a "story event" but an "action" + a "story event?" Unless "story event" is narrowly defined as "effect of a character's actions." And even then, that would make general questions as in the OP tautological. You'd be saying, basically, character actions cause story events because we have defined story events as effects of character actions.

It really does feel unnecessarily confusing, maybe especially for kids (~per a PP) who have already grasped storytelling conventions and don't need every single piece broken down into subatomic particles. Especially inconsistently defined particles. But I can't imagine this is really clear to any kid.

I also feel the petty need to point out that "Students are asked to do the following with guided practice: How Dionysus’s actions in these paragraphs contribute to the events of the story?" is not coherent. It is missing either an "explain" or a "do."

But here is a key thing!

None of these questions was asked of my kid. If they had been, it might have been clearer what the OP question was getting at!

"Why is it important to understand how a character's actions affect the events of a story?"

By substituting terms, we now kind of understand that this question ~is:

"Why is it important to understand how a character's actions cause other things to happen?"

Now, what might the answer be? No one has taken me up on this challenge.

Why IS that "important?"

If we understand the effects of a character's actions, then... what? We understand the story? What's the answer to that?

"It is important to understand how a character's actions have effects, because otherwise, we would literally not be able to follow a story at all, and it would be pretty much meaningless to us?"

I mean, if you don't understand the causes and effects in a story, you're going to be completely lost. It will read as a series of disconnected events. I don't know how else to answer that, and that's a truly inane, pointless answer.

But here is the kicker! I misrepresented the OP question.

It is actually:

"Why is it important to understand how a character's actions affect the events of a story? Use evidence from the text to support your thinking in a paragraph (3-5 sentences)."

If we are answering the question how it was asked, with perhaps a bit of context that "story events" = things that happen as a result of "character actions," then what is this asking us?

It is asking us to provide "evidence from the text" that (essentially) "If you don't understand the cause and effect in a story, it will read as a series of disconnected events and lack a coherent message."

Where is the evidence of that in the text of the story about King Midas? Where is the direct, "circle-able" evidence that "if you don't understand cause and effect, you won't grasp the story?"

As an adult, I can twist myself in knots to bring up specific examples of plot points in the King Midas story. And I could say that if you didn't understand how they were connected, you wouldn't get the point of the story. But for what purpose? To what end? How is this explanation useful in literally any way, if you even were able, as an 8-year-old, to answer the prompt as it was written?

Again, this question seems like it wants to be “How do a character’s actions affect a story?” Basically, "How do characters drive plot?" And of course, providing examples from the text for this is an achievable task.

To my OP, this is "requiring the reader to figure out what they think the writer meant to ask, and not answer the question they actually asked." Which, look-- we all have to do this for our crappy bosses or when filling out government forms or whatever. But it's hardly a life skill kids need to practice almost every day, in place of actually practicing writing and literature analysis.

I know I've devoted a lot of headspace to this over the last day or two. I'm sure I sound "exhausting" and "insufferable" and all the other DCUM standard insults. But it's actually helping me see both how to move forward with this and what to tell my kid-- and it's helping me recognize that a lot of the stuff like this I encountered as a kid, myself, was just straight up nonsense, and not my problem.

[Anonymous]

OP you are extremely pedantic.

I would not say Benchmark is an awesome or perfect curriculum. However, you, as a parent, have an incomplete picture of what is being taught day to day in the classroom. The curriculum does make more sense than you think it does, in that skills and concepts are being taught sequentially and systematically within and across the units.

You are a bit outside your lane (in that you aren't trained in pedagogy, don't have classroom experience teaching 3rd graders, and aren't aware of the scope and sequence of all the lessons). DCUM is full of parents thinking they are experts. Go write an ELA curriculum please, and grace us all with your genius.

[Anonymous]

Virginia mom of 3rd grader here: We get math word problems like this and as an actual working scientist, I can't answer. One recent one had a literal answer and an inference answer. She answered literally and of course she got it wrong. Sometimes my husband and I re-write them.

This is NOT on the teacher. The worksheets have "SOL 3.12" or something like that on the top.

Stupid.

Oh, and sometimes I do help/teach my child with the homework and get it wrong too. Makes me wonder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Benchmark is absolutely awful. I cannot fathom why MCPS chose this awful curriculum, especially since it wasn't actually recommended by external experts. I wish they would invest in a decent ELA curriculum.

+1

Infuriating that they did not choose an evidence-based curriculum. The new superintendent should take this on.

This is how MCPS rolls though. Look at the abysmal new SEL curriculum. They basically spend millions of dollars on crap and taxpayers are on the hook for it. Nobody is held responsible and the kids (and teachers) suffer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you are extremely pedantic.

I would not say Benchmark is an awesome or perfect curriculum. However, you, as a parent, have an incomplete picture of what is being taught day to day in the classroom. The curriculum does make more sense than you think it does, in that skills and concepts are being taught sequentially and systematically within and across the units.

You are a bit outside your lane (in that you aren't trained in pedagogy, don't have classroom experience teaching 3rd graders, and aren't aware of the scope and sequence of all the lessons). DCUM is full of parents thinking they are experts. Go write an ELA curriculum please, and grace us all with your genius.

I am pedantic, thanks for noticing.

However, you seem not to have noticed that I have not really complained about the curriculum. (Ah, more "pedantry" from me, making this distinction!) Actually, I said I like the idea behind it, and I'm not even complaining about most of the writing prompts. But I have complained about the way some of them are phrased. The skills and concepts Benchmark is supposed to teach are great, as far as I can tell.

I do understand, and have absolutely considered, that the teacher may have better explained the concepts in class, and perhaps even cleared up the specific, very murky questions. So, for example, defining "story events" in a specific way. That would clear up the question... about 15%.

In fact, my greatest complaint is about certain questions that very clearly have added textual filler. This filler may have been intended as merely instructional or even clarifying (!), but it actually changes the question's very meaning. A confusing mess! I do believe I might be able to help my kid figure out what the question means to be asking in the future-- so that's good. But that shouldn't be her job as an 8-year-old, or even mine as a parent. Not to this degree. "Figure out what a question is asking" = good life skill. "Be forced to piece together clues to take a stab at what is almost universally recognized to be an illogically-worded/ungrammatical question and what that question may have meant to ask" = probably also a good life skill! But just an unnecessary obstacle that has nothing to do with what should be the main focus here: literacy.

"Why are analogies useful in a story?" (or "How do birds lay eggs?" for that matter) are different questions from "Why is it important to know why analogies are useful in a story?" or "Why is it important to know how birds lay eggs?"

You can, and probably will, say, derp derp, it's obvious that the OP question meant to ask "How do characters' actions affect the plot?" I'm not sure that's a super illuminating question anyway (that might be a minor curriculum complaint), but, no, it wasn't obvious to us that's what they were asking. Not because I take pride in being pedantic and pointing out that's not technically what they actually asked. But because my kid and I were both truly and sincerely confused by a question worded so poorly that it no longer held the meaning it was "obviously" supposed to. I genuinely did not know what they were getting at until I talked it out here on this board.

And please do not gaslight me and tell me this is actually perfectly clear wording, and that the questions are all worded correctly. Many of them, in my experience, are very clearly sloppily cobbled together.

Because they don't even necessarily write:

"Why is it important to know why analogies are useful in a story?"

They'll often write:

"Why is it important to know why are analogies useful in a story?"

There are a number of examples like that where someone has added a phrase to a prompt, without even bothering to reword it so it reads properly. I'm not sure what they thought they were accomplishing. But that the way things shake out, it seems someone somewhere felt these prompts needed some boilerplate to be clearer (or something?) and they actually ended up asking a different question or misdirecting the reader.

I see this with "Why do you think" and "How would you describe" as well as "Why is it important." And there are adjacent issues with adding, "Write a paragraph explaining" and "show examples from the text," when those aren't always applicable or useful.

In the end, I can see this is not that serious in the scheme of things-- after all, my kid hasn't missed something critical, as I was concerned she had. She really does understand what is being taught. And now I have some strategy for helping my kid attack this problem, and maybe people searching DCUM in the future will as well. But it is an actual problem, whatever the degree. I'd wager this is not the fault of the writers, but rather of having too many editors.

Though I am a genius, I can't write a curriculum with which to grace you. But I am a good enough copywriter that I could at least rewrite some of the prompts for grammar and readability. Given that a smooth 20% of them seem to have escaped being proofread, maybe they should hire me, PP!

[Anonymous]

Fun fact: the team that reviewed the various reading curriculum options did not recommend Benchmark. They felt it was limited and subpar, and they suggested another curriculum.

Mcps went with the subpar nonsensical word salad Benchmark because it was readily available online and in Spanish. It is also very basic and aimed to prep for testing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you are extremely pedantic.

I would not say Benchmark is an awesome or perfect curriculum. However, you, as a parent, have an incomplete picture of what is being taught day to day in the classroom. The curriculum does make more sense than you think it does, in that skills and concepts are being taught sequentially and systematically within and across the units.

You are a bit outside your lane (in that you aren't trained in pedagogy, don't have classroom experience teaching 3rd graders, and aren't aware of the scope and sequence of all the lessons). DCUM is full of parents thinking they are experts. Go write an ELA curriculum please, and grace us all with your genius.

Private schools teach reading through literature. They also teach critical language schools through grammar and reading drills (think: one page passages with sat-like reading comprehension questions). Writing is taught through all classes—primarily English, but also social studies and science—through essays, exams, and research papers.

Mcps kids get a few minutes of group instruction followed by independent work during an extra long block. Nobody is receiving appropriate instruction.

[Anonymous]

https://www.edreports.org/reports/overview/benchmark-advance-2018

Critique on Benchmark.

[Anonymous]

https://thelearningcounsel.com/article/scientific-research-study-shows-students-using-benchmark-literacy-program-improved-reading

Take this “research” with a grain of salt because it was driven by Benchmark.

Interesting that Fairfax had Benchmark first. I guess mcps copies them now? Remember when mcps used to be the best?

The curriculum was purchased because mcps needs to improve test scores for the diversifying student body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Benchmark is absolutely awful. I cannot fathom why MCPS chose this awful curriculum, especially since it wasn't actually recommended by external experts. I wish they would invest in a decent ELA curriculum.

I don’t understand it either. I can see it already even with the reading “lessons” my kindergartner pulls up on the chrome book.

Did someone get a kickback for Benchmark? Otherwise I really can’t understand who thought this was a good curriculum, and why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://thelearningcounsel.com/article/scientific-research-study-shows-students-using-benchmark-literacy-program-improved-reading

Take this “research” with a grain of salt because it was driven by Benchmark.

Interesting that Fairfax had Benchmark first. I guess mcps copies them now? Remember when mcps used to be the best?

The curriculum was purchased because mcps needs to improve test scores for the diversifying student body.

But there are better options out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://thelearningcounsel.com/article/scientific-research-study-shows-students-using-benchmark-literacy-program-improved-reading

Take this “research” with a grain of salt because it was driven by Benchmark.

Interesting that Fairfax had Benchmark first. I guess mcps copies them now? Remember when mcps used to be the best?

The curriculum was purchased because mcps needs to improve test scores for the diversifying student body.

But there are better options out there.

Correct.

And the group of mcps teachers, staff, and leaders identified the better options when engaged to review and make recommendations.

Perhaps everyone should ask mcps why they opted for silly Benchmark?

Btw, does anyone know if fairfax still uses it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Benchmark is absolutely awful. I cannot fathom why MCPS chose this awful curriculum, especially since it wasn't actually recommended by external experts. I wish they would invest in a decent ELA curriculum.

I don’t understand it either. I can see it already even with the reading “lessons” my kindergartner pulls up on the chrome book.

Did someone get a kickback for Benchmark? Otherwise I really can’t understand who thought this was a good curriculum, and why.

Start tweeting at mcps.

We probably need a WaPo reporter or 7 on your side to look into it.

[Anonymous]

OP, you ARE an overthinker.

But you are also correct. We're in a different school district, but the confusing, buzzword-filled curricula are pretty much the same. And God forbid these kids would ever be assigned to read a real book. Just endless "passages." I do find it frustrating.