APS Proposing Additional Days Off in 24-25 School Year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, Youngkin.

Shittiest governor ever.

Umm what is wrong with you? This is training for the literacy act that was bipartisan. Teachers in Virginia need to start teaching in accordance with the science of reading. Since it’s a whole new way of teaching they need this training. Are you against students learning to read?

I agree with the rest of the PPs. Why November 4? They should just have the training right before or after thanksgiving break. Too many breaks aren’t good for learning.

Um... science of reading isn't that new. It's been pretty standard for at least 10 years. APS has been incredibly slow to adapt a decent curriculum, but this isn't new and many teachers were trained in the science of reading

There is at least one APS elementary school that's still using Lucy Calkins and teachers-helping-teachers materials and hasn't adopted CKLA yet. I know because my kids attend. It's ridiculous. I was told that CKLA was too hard for the school's students and too much work for teachers to adopt.

You should inform as many SB members, Syphax folks, and anyone you can find on APS instructional committees. APS paid money for CKLA and its use is broadly supported across the three groups I just mentioned. Not using it will have a negative impact on test scores, and THAT will get them good and P*ss3d off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, Youngkin.

Shittiest governor ever.

Umm what is wrong with you? This is training for the literacy act that was bipartisan. Teachers in Virginia need to start teaching in accordance with the science of reading. Since it’s a whole new way of teaching they need this training. Are you against students learning to read?

I agree with the rest of the PPs. Why November 4? They should just have the training right before or after thanksgiving break. Too many breaks aren’t good for learning.

Um... science of reading isn't that new. It's been pretty standard for at least 10 years. APS has been incredibly slow to adapt a decent curriculum, but this isn't new and many teachers were trained in the science of reading

There is at least one APS elementary school that's still using Lucy Calkins and teachers-helping-teachers materials and hasn't adopted CKLA yet. I know because my kids attend. It's ridiculous. I was told that CKLA was too hard for the school's students and too much work for teachers to adopt.

What school? That’s a huge disservice to those students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS BLOWS!!

why? because they are following the state requirements to train teachers to teach kids how to read?

You would think a four-year degree in elementary education would cover… teaching a child how to read?

I don’t get it. What do teachers learn in college?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, Youngkin.

Shittiest governor ever.

Umm what is wrong with you? This is training for the literacy act that was bipartisan. Teachers in Virginia need to start teaching in accordance with the science of reading. Since it’s a whole new way of teaching they need this training. Are you against students learning to read?

I agree with the rest of the PPs. Why November 4? They should just have the training right before or after thanksgiving break. Too many breaks aren’t good for learning.

Um... science of reading isn't that new. It's been pretty standard for at least 10 years. APS has been incredibly slow to adapt a decent curriculum, but this isn't new and many teachers were trained in the science of reading

Foreigner here. Trying to wrap my head around the fact that native English speakers are still figuring out a way to teach reading... People have been reading English for centuries and it's still a mystery how to teach it??!! mind-boggling

I was born in the US and have lived here my entire life. I am also baffled by this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, Youngkin.

Shittiest governor ever.

Umm what is wrong with you? This is training for the literacy act that was bipartisan. Teachers in Virginia need to start teaching in accordance with the science of reading. Since it’s a whole new way of teaching they need this training. Are you against students learning to read?

I agree with the rest of the PPs. Why November 4? They should just have the training right before or after thanksgiving break. Too many breaks aren’t good for learning.

Um... science of reading isn't that new. It's been pretty standard for at least 10 years. APS has been incredibly slow to adapt a decent curriculum, but this isn't new and many teachers were trained in the science of reading

Foreigner here. Trying to wrap my head around the fact that native English speakers are still figuring out a way to teach reading... People have been reading English for centuries and it's still a mystery how to teach it??!! mind-boggling

Foreigner also. I was the one responding to the Youngkin is a shitty governor post (he is in many ways but this is not one of them). They did know how to teach reading but then somehow in the 70s I think new education ideas started taking over and a belief developed that kids don’t need to be taught how to sound out the individual letters. Basically if they read enough times they will start recognizing words. This was called the whole language approach. Many kids are eventually able to figure out the letter sounds using this method but many kids simply memorized the way a word looks without being able to sound it out. Many educators criticized the approach which lead to what is now called the “reading wars.” The result was to keep the whole language approach but have phonics lessons peppered in the middle. This was called “balanced literacy.” Problem with balanced literacy is there was never really a focus on phonics and it wasn’t taught in a systematic way. This created a whole new generation of kids that can barely read. Meanwhile a lot of research was being conducted that showed the importance of systematic phonics instruction. That research came to be called the “science of reading.” Now states and districts are finally paying attention to the science of reading and implementing systemic phonics instruction in schools.

There is more to this story though. Another idea that was popular is that you don’t need to teach kids knowledge because they can just google the information they need. But the problem with that is that it is easier to comprehend something you had background knowledge of, then something you didn’t. Also how can you ask the right questions or search for something if you don’t know what to look for? Kids were entering middle and high school without any background knowledge. So they were doing poorly in their English classes, history, social studies etc and doing poorly on standardized tests. That’s why districts like APS have finally adopted an English curriculum that explicitly teaches background knowledge. Elementary in Arlington is improving fast but some schools are still pushing back. The weak link though is middle school. Hopefully I summarized that accurately!

Plot twist: English-speaking nations were duped by a Kiwi into destroying their literacy programs. Queen Elizabeth II even made Marie Clay a dame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, Youngkin.

Shittiest governor ever.

Umm what is wrong with you? This is training for the literacy act that was bipartisan. Teachers in Virginia need to start teaching in accordance with the science of reading. Since it’s a whole new way of teaching they need this training. Are you against students learning to read?

I agree with the rest of the PPs. Why November 4? They should just have the training right before or after thanksgiving break. Too many breaks aren’t good for learning.

Um... science of reading isn't that new. It's been pretty standard for at least 10 years. APS has been incredibly slow to adapt a decent curriculum, but this isn't new and many teachers were trained in the science of reading

Foreigner here. Trying to wrap my head around the fact that native English speakers are still figuring out a way to teach reading... People have been reading English for centuries and it's still a mystery how to teach it??!! mind-boggling

Foreigner also. I was the one responding to the Youngkin is a shitty governor post (he is in many ways but this is not one of them). They did know how to teach reading but then somehow in the 70s I think new education ideas started taking over and a belief developed that kids don’t need to be taught how to sound out the individual letters. Basically if they read enough times they will start recognizing words. This was called the whole language approach. Many kids are eventually able to figure out the letter sounds using this method but many kids simply memorized the way a word looks without being able to sound it out. Many educators criticized the approach which lead to what is now called the “reading wars.” The result was to keep the whole language approach but have phonics lessons peppered in the middle. This was called “balanced literacy.” Problem with balanced literacy is there was never really a focus on phonics and it wasn’t taught in a systematic way. This created a whole new generation of kids that can barely read. Meanwhile a lot of research was being conducted that showed the importance of systematic phonics instruction. That research came to be called the “science of reading.” Now states and districts are finally paying attention to the science of reading and implementing systemic phonics instruction in schools.

There is more to this story though. Another idea that was popular is that you don’t need to teach kids knowledge because they can just google the information they need. But the problem with that is that it is easier to comprehend something you had background knowledge of, then something you didn’t. Also how can you ask the right questions or search for something if you don’t know what to look for? Kids were entering middle and high school without any background knowledge. So they were doing poorly in their English classes, history, social studies etc and doing poorly on standardized tests. That’s why districts like APS have finally adopted an English curriculum that explicitly teaches background knowledge. Elementary in Arlington is improving fast but some schools are still pushing back. The weak link though is middle school. Hopefully I summarized that accurately!

Plot twist: English-speaking nations were duped by a Kiwi into destroying their literacy programs. Queen Elizabeth II even made Marie Clay a dame.

We need literacy pr0grams FDA appr0ved

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, Youngkin.

Shittiest governor ever.

Umm what is wrong with you? This is training for the literacy act that was bipartisan. Teachers in Virginia need to start teaching in accordance with the science of reading. Since it’s a whole new way of teaching they need this training. Are you against students learning to read?

I agree with the rest of the PPs. Why November 4? They should just have the training right before or after thanksgiving break. Too many breaks aren’t good for learning.

Um... science of reading isn't that new. It's been pretty standard for at least 10 years. APS has been incredibly slow to adapt a decent curriculum, but this isn't new and many teachers were trained in the science of reading

There is at least one APS elementary school that's still using Lucy Calkins and teachers-helping-teachers materials and hasn't adopted CKLA yet. I know because my kids attend. It's ridiculous. I was told that CKLA was too hard for the school's students and too much work for teachers to adopt.

Wait, what? Was the “too hard/too much work” stuff something a teacher said, or a school leader? CKLA is a countywide requirement.

It was a statement from my kid's teacher at PT conferences last fall. She said she prefers Writers Workshop. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, Youngkin.

Shittiest governor ever.

Umm what is wrong with you? This is training for the literacy act that was bipartisan. Teachers in Virginia need to start teaching in accordance with the science of reading. Since it’s a whole new way of teaching they need this training. Are you against students learning to read?

I agree with the rest of the PPs. Why November 4? They should just have the training right before or after thanksgiving break. Too many breaks aren’t good for learning.

Um... science of reading isn't that new. It's been pretty standard for at least 10 years. APS has been incredibly slow to adapt a decent curriculum, but this isn't new and many teachers were trained in the science of reading

There is at least one APS elementary school that's still using Lucy Calkins and teachers-helping-teachers materials and hasn't adopted CKLA yet. I know because my kids attend. It's ridiculous. I was told that CKLA was too hard for the school's students and too much work for teachers to adopt.

Wait, what? Was the “too hard/too much work” stuff something a teacher said, or a school leader? CKLA is a countywide requirement.

It was a statement from my kid's teacher at PT conferences last fall. She said she prefers Writers Workshop. Ugh.

Is this teacher not doing CKLA/Heggerty/95% at all or doing a combination?
1 rogue teacher isn’t the same as a whole school not doing it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS BLOWS!!

why? because they are following the state requirements to train teachers to teach kids how to read?

You would think a four-year degree in elementary education would cover… teaching a child how to read?

I don’t get it. What do teachers learn in college?!

It's the "education experts" coming up with "new" curriculum that's the problem. Fads. The latest method, that's what they teach the teachers-to-be. Now they have to learn the science of reading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS BLOWS!!

why? because they are following the state requirements to train teachers to teach kids how to read?

You would think a four-year degree in elementary education would cover… teaching a child how to read?

I don’t get it. What do teachers learn in college?!

They learned wrong. And many were taught wrong (I'm 38, so I learned the wrong way and was taught to teach reading the wrong way). But over the past 10 years there's been a ton of solid research and recommendations about the foundations of reading. APS was very slow to adopt it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS BLOWS!!

why? because they are following the state requirements to train teachers to teach kids how to read?

You would think a four-year degree in elementary education would cover… teaching a child how to read?

I don’t get it. What do teachers learn in college?!

It's the "education experts" coming up with "new" curriculum that's the problem. Fads. The latest method, that's what they teach the teachers-to-be. Now they have to learn the science of reading.

I blame in part the inflated Syphax staff for the constantly changing curriculums. There are too many people employed by APS whose job is predicated on identifying and purchasing new fads. It’s not only incredibly costly but it’s detrimental to our students. Even if, in theory, a new method or textbook was truly necessary (which it is clearly not), what teacher in their right mind would want to/be able to master the new fad? APS has become its own worst enemy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, Youngkin.

Shittiest governor ever.

Umm what is wrong with you? This is training for the literacy act that was bipartisan. Teachers in Virginia need to start teaching in accordance with the science of reading. Since it’s a whole new way of teaching they need this training. Are you against students learning to read?

I agree with the rest of the PPs. Why November 4? They should just have the training right before or after thanksgiving break. Too many breaks aren’t good for learning.

Um... science of reading isn't that new. It's been pretty standard for at least 10 years. APS has been incredibly slow to adapt a decent curriculum, but this isn't new and many teachers were trained in the science of reading

There is at least one APS elementary school that's still using Lucy Calkins and teachers-helping-teachers materials and hasn't adopted CKLA yet. I know because my kids attend. It's ridiculous. I was told that CKLA was too hard for the school's students and too much work for teachers to adopt.

Wait, what? Was the “too hard/too much work” stuff something a teacher said, or a school leader? CKLA is a countywide requirement.

It was a statement from my kid's teacher at PT conferences last fall. She said she prefers Writers Workshop. Ugh.

Is this teacher not doing CKLA/Heggerty/95% at all or doing a combination?
1 rogue teacher isn’t the same as a whole school not doing it

They're doing 95 phonics, but not CKLA. It's the whole school, not just one teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, Youngkin.

Shittiest governor ever.

Umm what is wrong with you? This is training for the literacy act that was bipartisan. Teachers in Virginia need to start teaching in accordance with the science of reading. Since it’s a whole new way of teaching they need this training. Are you against students learning to read?

I agree with the rest of the PPs. Why November 4? They should just have the training right before or after thanksgiving break. Too many breaks aren’t good for learning.

Um... science of reading isn't that new. It's been pretty standard for at least 10 years. APS has been incredibly slow to adapt a decent curriculum, but this isn't new and many teachers were trained in the science of reading

Many were not

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, Youngkin.

Shittiest governor ever.

Umm what is wrong with you? This is training for the literacy act that was bipartisan. Teachers in Virginia need to start teaching in accordance with the science of reading. Since it’s a whole new way of teaching they need this training. Are you against students learning to read?

I agree with the rest of the PPs. Why November 4? They should just have the training right before or after thanksgiving break. Too many breaks aren’t good for learning.

Um... science of reading isn't that new. It's been pretty standard for at least 10 years. APS has been incredibly slow to adapt a decent curriculum, but this isn't new and many teachers were trained in the science of reading

There is at least one APS elementary school that's still using Lucy Calkins and teachers-helping-teachers materials and hasn't adopted CKLA yet. I know because my kids attend. It's ridiculous. I was told that CKLA was too hard for the school's students and too much work for teachers to adopt.

You should inform as many SB members, Syphax folks, and anyone you can find on APS instructional committees. APS paid money for CKLA and its use is broadly supported across the three groups I just mentioned. Not using it will have a negative impact on test scores, and THAT will get them good and P*ss3d off.

Go on AEM and post this anonymously with the schools name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, Youngkin.

Shittiest governor ever.

Umm what is wrong with you? This is training for the literacy act that was bipartisan. Teachers in Virginia need to start teaching in accordance with the science of reading. Since it’s a whole new way of teaching they need this training. Are you against students learning to read?

I agree with the rest of the PPs. Why November 4? They should just have the training right before or after thanksgiving break. Too many breaks aren’t good for learning.

Um... science of reading isn't that new. It's been pretty standard for at least 10 years. APS has been incredibly slow to adapt a decent curriculum, but this isn't new and many teachers were trained in the science of reading

Foreigner here. Trying to wrap my head around the fact that native English speakers are still figuring out a way to teach reading... People have been reading English for centuries and it's still a mystery how to teach it??!! mind-boggling

I was born in the US and have lived here my entire life. I am also baffled by this.

What you need to understand is how much US education is a for-profit industry. Your children’s education serves to prop up billion dollar testing companies, companies that sell curriculum, textbooks, etc. so every few years, everything changes. All new way to teach = new materials schools have to buy and new tests to assess what they learned.

You’re looking at education through the lens of just teaching kids. You have to look at it as a massive money making industry to understand why it works the way it does in the US. Like everything else here, it goes back to making companies money.

-teacher