No More Reading Levels in Grades 3 - 5

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If parents want quarterly progress reports on reading levels, and therefore his change is not acceptable, emails have to be sent. They can make a lot of unpalatable changes and if there's no response from the parent community, they just happen.

Tell us where to send these emails, please. I will email them all.

[Anonymous]

Your principal,
Jack Smith:
[e-mail]
The Board of Education: [e-mail]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach upper elementary and cannot believe we're going this route. I heard we no longer have to report out MIRL (running records) on a monthly basis anymore and K to 2 only has to do it twice a year now! How do we go from having to assess students' instructional reading levels on a monthly basis to just two times a year (or none in the upper grades)? What the heck is happening? I know for certain I'll be doing an end of marking period running record on all of my students in case a parent wants to know their child's level.

You are a better teacher than what we have had as ours will not tell us reading levels and we just hear it from the kids. All we get are MAP scores to show level and that is only because thanks to this site, we can get them online.

Honestly, everyone at the school level knows what a train wreck central office is and the "stuff" is most definitely running downhill. What exactly has Dr. Smith accomplished in his time here? I feel like this school system has become even more chaotic since his arrival. He's completely dismantled offices that were working to support ALL levels of learners and their teachers. We have morale at an all time low and our awesome curriculum is still around for another year due to the RFP screw up. Well done, sir.

I wrote him off when the re-organization of special ed was announced, eliminating the cluster supervisors and instructional specialists. That told me that he has no idea what the people under him actually do and doesn't bother listening to anyone. I hope he gets drowned in an avalanche of complaints from principals and program coordinators when student transfers turn into a huge mess and CIEP gets 6500 referrals which could have been solved at the school level by the cluster supervisor if they were still there. Dreading this year already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are they still doing MAP testing? I think the teacher's estimates of reading levels for high fliers are not spot-on, but testing can be, so long as the kid isn't having an off day for that particular test.

Yes, MAP was great for my child whose teachers completely underestimate his reading levels. He's not strong verbally expressing it, which is what they require but did great on the MAP.

[Anonymous]

Only because you asked, I'll respond - yes you are nuts!

This action if true eliminates one of those idiotic arbitrary academic milestones. EVERYBODY learns to read! 3rd, 4th, 5th who cares as long as they are reading and making progress.

At that age it is merely decoding anyway - at that age it definitely is not an indication academic prowess or an intellectual deficiency.

Its decoding and nothing more. To state a child is advanced or deficient at that age is a disservice to both ends of the spectrum because it is a pattenedly false analysis of long term human potential.

So yes -- you are quite nuts on this particular issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is ridiculous. One step forward by amending that insane N/I/P/ES grading system and two steps back by eliminating reading levels.

Are the kids going to know their reading levels? How is it that we're supposed to pick out books from the library if we have no idea of what their reading level is? My kid was reading above grade level in 1st last year, so the teacher did not send home books for reading at home (that was only for kids below grade level). We had to go get him books from the library. He complained that every book we took out was too hard, unless it was obviously too easy. This continued until I took out a whole pile of books that were listed one below his level! Without that reading level as a guide, the complaining would have continued.


I'm pulling my hair out with MCPS.

The library does not show whether a book is x level or y. You should be able to pick a book by having you child read 1 page and determine if he gets most but nit all words easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the upper grades (3-5), MIRL will be completed for everyone at the beginning of the year. It still will have to be done monthly (and data entered) for all students not meeting benchmark (are below grade level). There will be a new assessment that will be administered once a marking period using a rigorous text.

And MCPS teachers...EMAT and progress checks are no longer required (individual schools can decide if they will still use them). There will be a NEW math assessment that will be used this year

I don't see the problem with this. Kids who are below grade level will be identified, tracked, and monitored (and hopefully provided appropriate interventions). Kids who are at or above grade level will be given challenging reading material. Do you really need to know if they are reading at level S or level T? I can think of a lot of things I'd rather the teacher spend time on than measuring that every month.

I'm a secondary teacher (English). We test reading levels twice a year - or more, if students are in intervention classes. To be honest, however, you can't introduce complex texts if you don't know a student's reading level, which can indeed change from one month to the next. What is complex for one may be too easy for another.

Furthermore, text complexity isn't simply a lexile score. A work from Cisneros, for example, which is often rich in figurative devices, could stump a student as well. So while the words aren't elevated, the imagery (associated with metaphors and similes) is. Analyzing her writing style requires a different skill set.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Side question: why can’t we just reject common core, like MA and VA?

VA has the SOLs - same s__t, different day.

Education is owned by companies like Pearson. Until the parents and teachers fight to take their schools back, these companies will capitalize on the weak students. The gap is good in their eyes b/c it means more money. So we can continue to blame teachers for not getting test scores up, using them as scapegoats year after year.

The system is crumbling across the nation, and we just sit back and grumble instead of taking real action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only because you asked, I'll respond - yes you are nuts!

This action if true eliminates one of those idiotic arbitrary academic milestones. EVERYBODY learns to read! 3rd, 4th, 5th who cares as long as they are reading and making progress.

At that age it is merely decoding anyway - at that age it definitely is not an indication academic prowess or an intellectual deficiency.

Its decoding and nothing more. To state a child is advanced or deficient at that age is a disservice to both ends of the spectrum because it is a pattenedly false analysis of long term human potential.

So yes -- you are quite nuts on this particular issue.

Actually no, not everyone learns to read in school. The 20% of kids with dyslexia frequently have to get outside tutoring to learn to read because the schools fail them so completely.

MCPS has a very dismal record on this, so I would be skeptical of the purpose of this change.

[Anonymous]

I have no idea if this is new in FCPS as well but FYI we also only got below, on, advanced for my 3rd grader last year. No DRA. They took a new iready thing but i wasn’t given results after November. This DC is my oldest so I have nothing to compare to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only because you asked, I'll respond - yes you are nuts!

This action if true eliminates one of those idiotic arbitrary academic milestones. EVERYBODY learns to read! 3rd, 4th, 5th who cares as long as they are reading and making progress.

At that age it is merely decoding anyway - at that age it definitely is not an indication academic prowess or an intellectual deficiency.

Its decoding and nothing more. To state a child is advanced or deficient at that age is a disservice to both ends of the spectrum because it is a pattenedly false analysis of long term human potential.

So yes -- you are quite nuts on this particular issue.

Uh what?? This might be true in pre-k/k but 3rd-5th is not “just decoding”! My children were absolutely able to read book and just read the words, but understand the meaning of what they read, reflect on those words, compare to other texts, compare to history, remember books they read from the same author and compare and contrast. And my kids are not geniuses, this is common stufff. You are very wrong here.

[Anonymous]

Yes I realize there are mistakes in my pp...it’s early and I need coffee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only because you asked, I'll respond - yes you are nuts!

This action if true eliminates one of those idiotic arbitrary academic milestones. EVERYBODY learns to read! 3rd, 4th, 5th who cares as long as they are reading and making progress.

At that age it is merely decoding anyway - at that age it definitely is not an indication academic prowess or an intellectual deficiency.

Its decoding and nothing more. To state a child is advanced or deficient at that age is a disservice to both ends of the spectrum because it is a pattenedly false analysis of long term human potential.

So yes -- you are quite nuts on this particular issue.

Uh what?? This might be true in pre-k/k but 3rd-5th is not “just decoding”! My children were absolutely able to read book and just read the words, but understand the meaning of what they read, reflect on those words, compare to other texts, compare to history, remember books they read from the same author and compare and contrast. And my kids are not geniuses, this is common stufff. You are very wrong here.

Bless your heart. You most certainly aren't an educator based on your response. I agree - K to 2, is mainly teaching kids HOW to read. When you hit third grade, watch out. The emphasis is on reading to learn. The kids who come in unprepared are at an extreme disadvantage. So yes, it's important for kids to know their reading levels so that they can choose texts appropriately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is ridiculous. One step forward by amending that insane N/I/P/ES grading system and two steps back by eliminating reading levels.

Are the kids going to know their reading levels? How is it that we're supposed to pick out books from the library if we have no idea of what their reading level is? My kid was reading above grade level in 1st last year, so the teacher did not send home books for reading at home (that was only for kids below grade level). We had to go get him books from the library. He complained that every book we took out was too hard, unless it was obviously too easy. This continued until I took out a whole pile of books that were listed one below his level! Without that reading level as a guide, the complaining would have continued.


I'm pulling my hair out with MCPS.

At least one principal has responded on this thread. Can I ask a question for any MCPS administrators on here? I'm a teacher in the county and I know principals have to tout the party line and play nice with central, but are you folks secretly as appalled as we are, generally speaking? It would be comforting actually to think that principals align more with their staff's needs than the central office initiative du jour.

Yes, yes we are. Survival is following the required changes but layer in efforts that best meet the needs of kids. As one pp pointed out, MIRL might not be required in grades 3 - 5 anymore but you better believe my staff will be reporting out levels on kids reading below the monthly target. I also always point out that the lessons from the curriculum are just sample lessons. If you don't think they are good, design and teach a lesson that follows the same standard. Teachers did this in school or they wouldn't have graduated. Teach a lesson that's interesting for the kids but allows you to still teach the standard. It will be more fun for both of you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only because you asked, I'll respond - yes you are nuts!

This action if true eliminates one of those idiotic arbitrary academic milestones. EVERYBODY learns to read! 3rd, 4th, 5th who cares as long as they are reading and making progress.

At that age it is merely decoding anyway - at that age it definitely is not an indication academic prowess or an intellectual deficiency.

Its decoding and nothing more. To state a child is advanced or deficient at that age is a disservice to both ends of the spectrum because it is a pattenedly false analysis of long term human potential.

So yes -- you are quite nuts on this particular issue.

Uh what?? This might be true in pre-k/k but 3rd-5th is not “just decoding”! My children were absolutely able to read book and just read the words, but understand the meaning of what they read, reflect on those words, compare to other texts, compare to history, remember books they read from the same author and compare and contrast. And my kids are not geniuses, this is common stufff. You are very wrong here.

Bless your heart. You most certainly aren't an educator based on your response. I agree - K to 2, is mainly teaching kids HOW to read. When you hit third grade, watch out. The emphasis is on reading to learn. The kids who come in unprepared are at an extreme disadvantage. So yes, it's important for kids to know their reading levels so that they can choose texts appropriately.

Who are you blessing? I’m the one who said that in grades 3-5 they most certainly aren’t “just decoding” and I agree that it’s important for kids to know their reading levels.