Benchmark is awful - what can be done

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like Benchmark is a mess in the lower grades. How about for grades 4 & 5? How much better is the newer Benchmark Advance 2022 better for upper grades?

It's just as bad. It repeats the same topics year after year, so kids are bored. Plus readings are all at or below grade level, so anyone who is above grade level is extra bored and unchallenged.

Same main topic or same content? Because those are two very different things. The first could be very helpful and provide both foundation, depth and appropriate spiraling. The second would be very boring. I also thought with the new 2022 version there was going to be more novel study?

The units all cover the same topics and just have different readings. So for example, every year they will do a unit on westward expansion.

I could be okay with this because this is a very broad topic are there are some lots of topics under Westward expansion that could be covered. Especially if we consider Westward expansion most expansion beyond the 13 Colonies.


Settling of the MidWest
Settling of the West
Trail of Tears
Settlement building

My daughter keeps saying that she has read all this before. I checked and it is technically different texts, but it's all making the same points, so I understand why she is bored. The bigger problems are the structural ones--not following the science of reading, not offering above grade-level texts--but it would be nice to have content that actually engages the students.

This. The not-well-done spiral curriculum is a problem too, but secondary.

For examples of Benchmark's upper grade materials, 5th graders read a chapter from Call of the Wild and a chapter from Tom Sawyer. The nonfiction materials are generated by Benchmark and are very dull. At our school the students and teachers found the unit on corn so awful that they now skip it.

Do kids ever read entire books, or is it just these chapters?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like Benchmark is a mess in the lower grades. How about for grades 4 & 5? How much better is the newer Benchmark Advance 2022 better for upper grades?

It's just as bad. It repeats the same topics year after year, so kids are bored. Plus readings are all at or below grade level, so anyone who is above grade level is extra bored and unchallenged.

Same main topic or same content? Because those are two very different things. The first could be very helpful and provide both foundation, depth and appropriate spiraling. The second would be very boring. I also thought with the new 2022 version there was going to be more novel study?

The units all cover the same topics and just have different readings. So for example, every year they will do a unit on westward expansion.

I could be okay with this because this is a very broad topic are there are some lots of topics under Westward expansion that could be covered. Especially if we consider Westward expansion most expansion beyond the 13 Colonies.


Settling of the MidWest
Settling of the West
Trail of Tears
Settlement building

My daughter keeps saying that she has read all this before. I checked and it is technically different texts, but it's all making the same points, so I understand why she is bored. The bigger problems are the structural ones--not following the science of reading, not offering above grade-level texts--but it would be nice to have content that actually engages the students.

This. The not-well-done spiral curriculum is a problem too, but secondary.

For examples of Benchmark's upper grade materials, 5th graders read a chapter from Call of the Wild and a chapter from Tom Sawyer. The nonfiction materials are generated by Benchmark and are very dull. At our school the students and teachers found the unit on corn so awful that they now skip it.

Oh gosh I hope my school skips it, too. That sounds painful.
-4th grade parent now dreading next year's corn unit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like Benchmark is a mess in the lower grades. How about for grades 4 & 5? How much better is the newer Benchmark Advance 2022 better for upper grades?

It's just as bad. It repeats the same topics year after year, so kids are bored. Plus readings are all at or below grade level, so anyone who is above grade level is extra bored and unchallenged.

Same main topic or same content? Because those are two very different things. The first could be very helpful and provide both foundation, depth and appropriate spiraling. The second would be very boring. I also thought with the new 2022 version there was going to be more novel study?

The units all cover the same topics and just have different readings. So for example, every year they will do a unit on westward expansion.

I could be okay with this because this is a very broad topic are there are some lots of topics under Westward expansion that could be covered. Especially if we consider Westward expansion most expansion beyond the 13 Colonies.


Settling of the MidWest
Settling of the West
Trail of Tears
Settlement building

My daughter keeps saying that she has read all this before. I checked and it is technically different texts, but it's all making the same points, so I understand why she is bored. The bigger problems are the structural ones--not following the science of reading, not offering above grade-level texts--but it would be nice to have content that actually engages the students.

This. The not-well-done spiral curriculum is a problem too, but secondary.

For examples of Benchmark's upper grade materials, 5th graders read a chapter from Call of the Wild and a chapter from Tom Sawyer. The nonfiction materials are generated by Benchmark and are very dull. At our school the students and teachers found the unit on corn so awful that they now skip it.

Do kids ever read entire books, or is it just these chapters?

Teachers can assign online books on Benchmark to a reading group. But whole-group time and most reading-group time at our school is using the base Benchmark materials, which is just excerpts. If your school has purchased enrichment materials or offers ELC, then kids in the enriched reading group can get non-Benchmark offerings added in. However, this is optional and some schools only offer Benchmark. Ours has some enrichment but does not offer ELC, so the offerings outside of Benchmark are pretty sparse and only offered to kids who qualify for enrichment.

[Anonymous]

I had the same issue OP with the kindergarten but I noticed that in first grade my daughter's teacher was really pushing phonics and word work. I'm not sure if this is a benchmark thing or just her teacher is very good at supplementing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like Benchmark is a mess in the lower grades. How about for grades 4 & 5? How much better is the newer Benchmark Advance 2022 better for upper grades?

It's just as bad. It repeats the same topics year after year, so kids are bored. Plus readings are all at or below grade level, so anyone who is above grade level is extra bored and unchallenged.

Same main topic or same content? Because those are two very different things. The first could be very helpful and provide both foundation, depth and appropriate spiraling. The second would be very boring. I also thought with the new 2022 version there was going to be more novel study?

The units all cover the same topics and just have different readings. So for example, every year they will do a unit on westward expansion.

Huh which unit is that? I thought the topics were things like government, technology, animals for their nonfiction units and then character, perspective/point of view for fiction units

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had the same issue OP with the kindergarten but I noticed that in first grade my daughter's teacher was really pushing phonics and word work. I'm not sure if this is a benchmark thing or just her teacher is very good at supplementing

Pretty sure it is the latter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like Benchmark is a mess in the lower grades. How about for grades 4 & 5? How much better is the newer Benchmark Advance 2022 better for upper grades?

It's just as bad. It repeats the same topics year after year, so kids are bored. Plus readings are all at or below grade level, so anyone who is above grade level is extra bored and unchallenged.

Same main topic or same content? Because those are two very different things. The first could be very helpful and provide both foundation, depth and appropriate spiraling. The second would be very boring. I also thought with the new 2022 version there was going to be more novel study?

The units all cover the same topics and just have different readings. So for example, every year they will do a unit on westward expansion.

I could be okay with this because this is a very broad topic are there are some lots of topics under Westward expansion that could be covered. Especially if we consider Westward expansion most expansion beyond the 13 Colonies.


Settling of the MidWest
Settling of the West
Trail of Tears
Settlement building

My daughter keeps saying that she has read all this before. I checked and it is technically different texts, but it's all making the same points, so I understand why she is bored. The bigger problems are the structural ones--not following the science of reading, not offering above grade-level texts--but it would be nice to have content that actually engages the students.

This. The not-well-done spiral curriculum is a problem too, but secondary.

For examples of Benchmark's upper grade materials, 5th graders read a chapter from Call of the Wild and a chapter from Tom Sawyer. The nonfiction materials are generated by Benchmark and are very dull. At our school the students and teachers found the unit on corn so awful that they now skip it.

Do kids ever read entire books, or is it just these chapters?

Teachers can assign online books on Benchmark to a reading group. But whole-group time and most reading-group time at our school is using the base Benchmark materials, which is just excerpts. If your school has purchased enrichment materials or offers ELC, then kids in the enriched reading group can get non-Benchmark offerings added in. However, this is optional and some schools only offer Benchmark. Ours has some enrichment but does not offer ELC, so the offerings outside of Benchmark are pretty sparse and only offered to kids who qualify for enrichment.

So does that mean that the only kids regularly reading entire books are the ones who qualify for enrichment? This is just astonishing to me. I remember reading full books regularly starting in 3rd grade at my public school in the NYC suburbs in the 90s. My daughter is going into K and I’m just very disturbed by all of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like Benchmark is a mess in the lower grades. How about for grades 4 & 5? How much better is the newer Benchmark Advance 2022 better for upper grades?

It's just as bad. It repeats the same topics year after year, so kids are bored. Plus readings are all at or below grade level, so anyone who is above grade level is extra bored and unchallenged.

Same main topic or same content? Because those are two very different things. The first could be very helpful and provide both foundation, depth and appropriate spiraling. The second would be very boring. I also thought with the new 2022 version there was going to be more novel study?

The units all cover the same topics and just have different readings. So for example, every year they will do a unit on westward expansion.

I could be okay with this because this is a very broad topic are there are some lots of topics under Westward expansion that could be covered. Especially if we consider Westward expansion most expansion beyond the 13 Colonies.


Settling of the MidWest
Settling of the West
Trail of Tears
Settlement building

My daughter keeps saying that she has read all this before. I checked and it is technically different texts, but it's all making the same points, so I understand why she is bored. The bigger problems are the structural ones--not following the science of reading, not offering above grade-level texts--but it would be nice to have content that actually engages the students.

This. The not-well-done spiral curriculum is a problem too, but secondary.

For examples of Benchmark's upper grade materials, 5th graders read a chapter from Call of the Wild and a chapter from Tom Sawyer. The nonfiction materials are generated by Benchmark and are very dull. At our school the students and teachers found the unit on corn so awful that they now skip it.

Do kids ever read entire books, or is it just these chapters?

Teachers can assign online books on Benchmark to a reading group. But whole-group time and most reading-group time at our school is using the base Benchmark materials, which is just excerpts. If your school has purchased enrichment materials or offers ELC, then kids in the enriched reading group can get non-Benchmark offerings added in. However, this is optional and some schools only offer Benchmark. Ours has some enrichment but does not offer ELC, so the offerings outside of Benchmark are pretty sparse and only offered to kids who qualify for enrichment.

So does that mean that the only kids regularly reading entire books are the ones who qualify for enrichment? This is just astonishing to me. I remember reading full books regularly starting in 3rd grade at my public school in the NYC suburbs in the 90s. My daughter is going into K and I’m just very disturbed by all of this.

Same, and I grew up in a different part of NY that overall is much less affluent than here. One of my good friends who is still there is now a reading teacher and is flummoxed when I tell her how they teach reading in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like Benchmark is a mess in the lower grades. How about for grades 4 & 5? How much better is the newer Benchmark Advance 2022 better for upper grades?

It's just as bad. It repeats the same topics year after year, so kids are bored. Plus readings are all at or below grade level, so anyone who is above grade level is extra bored and unchallenged.

Same main topic or same content? Because those are two very different things. The first could be very helpful and provide both foundation, depth and appropriate spiraling. The second would be very boring. I also thought with the new 2022 version there was going to be more novel study?

The units all cover the same topics and just have different readings. So for example, every year they will do a unit on westward expansion.

I could be okay with this because this is a very broad topic are there are some lots of topics under Westward expansion that could be covered. Especially if we consider Westward expansion most expansion beyond the 13 Colonies.


Settling of the MidWest
Settling of the West
Trail of Tears
Settlement building

My daughter keeps saying that she has read all this before. I checked and it is technically different texts, but it's all making the same points, so I understand why she is bored. The bigger problems are the structural ones--not following the science of reading, not offering above grade-level texts--but it would be nice to have content that actually engages the students.

This. The not-well-done spiral curriculum is a problem too, but secondary.

For examples of Benchmark's upper grade materials, 5th graders read a chapter from Call of the Wild and a chapter from Tom Sawyer. The nonfiction materials are generated by Benchmark and are very dull. At our school the students and teachers found the unit on corn so awful that they now skip it.

Do kids ever read entire books, or is it just these chapters?

Teachers can assign online books on Benchmark to a reading group. But whole-group time and most reading-group time at our school is using the base Benchmark materials, which is just excerpts. If your school has purchased enrichment materials or offers ELC, then kids in the enriched reading group can get non-Benchmark offerings added in. However, this is optional and some schools only offer Benchmark. Ours has some enrichment but does not offer ELC, so the offerings outside of Benchmark are pretty sparse and only offered to kids who qualify for enrichment.

So does that mean that the only kids regularly reading entire books are the ones who qualify for enrichment? This is just astonishing to me. I remember reading full books regularly starting in 3rd grade at my public school in the NYC suburbs in the 90s. My daughter is going into K and I’m just very disturbed by all of this.

I don't think our school even has reading groups now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like Benchmark is a mess in the lower grades. How about for grades 4 & 5? How much better is the newer Benchmark Advance 2022 better for upper grades?

It's just as bad. It repeats the same topics year after year, so kids are bored. Plus readings are all at or below grade level, so anyone who is above grade level is extra bored and unchallenged.

Same main topic or same content? Because those are two very different things. The first could be very helpful and provide both foundation, depth and appropriate spiraling. The second would be very boring. I also thought with the new 2022 version there was going to be more novel study?

The units all cover the same topics and just have different readings. So for example, every year they will do a unit on westward expansion.

Huh which unit is that? I thought the topics were things like government, technology, animals for their nonfiction units and then character, perspective/point of view for fiction units

It's one of the units toward the end of the year. My kid has studied westward expansion 3 years in a row now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like Benchmark is a mess in the lower grades. How about for grades 4 & 5? How much better is the newer Benchmark Advance 2022 better for upper grades?

It's just as bad. It repeats the same topics year after year, so kids are bored. Plus readings are all at or below grade level, so anyone who is above grade level is extra bored and unchallenged.

Same main topic or same content? Because those are two very different things. The first could be very helpful and provide both foundation, depth and appropriate spiraling. The second would be very boring. I also thought with the new 2022 version there was going to be more novel study?

The units all cover the same topics and just have different readings. So for example, every year they will do a unit on westward expansion.

I could be okay with this because this is a very broad topic are there are some lots of topics under Westward expansion that could be covered. Especially if we consider Westward expansion most expansion beyond the 13 Colonies.


Settling of the MidWest
Settling of the West
Trail of Tears
Settlement building

My daughter keeps saying that she has read all this before. I checked and it is technically different texts, but it's all making the same points, so I understand why she is bored. The bigger problems are the structural ones--not following the science of reading, not offering above grade-level texts--but it would be nice to have content that actually engages the students.

This. The not-well-done spiral curriculum is a problem too, but secondary.

For examples of Benchmark's upper grade materials, 5th graders read a chapter from Call of the Wild and a chapter from Tom Sawyer. The nonfiction materials are generated by Benchmark and are very dull. At our school the students and teachers found the unit on corn so awful that they now skip it.

Do kids ever read entire books, or is it just these chapters?

Teachers can assign online books on Benchmark to a reading group. But whole-group time and most reading-group time at our school is using the base Benchmark materials, which is just excerpts. If your school has purchased enrichment materials or offers ELC, then kids in the enriched reading group can get non-Benchmark offerings added in. However, this is optional and some schools only offer Benchmark. Ours has some enrichment but does not offer ELC, so the offerings outside of Benchmark are pretty sparse and only offered to kids who qualify for enrichment.

So does that mean that the only kids regularly reading entire books are the ones who qualify for enrichment? This is just astonishing to me. I remember reading full books regularly starting in 3rd grade at my public school in the NYC suburbs in the 90s. My daughter is going into K and I’m just very disturbed by all of this.

I've heard this is an issue throughout common core and it's a real disservice to getting kids to develop as readers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like Benchmark is a mess in the lower grades. How about for grades 4 & 5? How much better is the newer Benchmark Advance 2022 better for upper grades?

It's just as bad. It repeats the same topics year after year, so kids are bored. Plus readings are all at or below grade level, so anyone who is above grade level is extra bored and unchallenged.

Same main topic or same content? Because those are two very different things. The first could be very helpful and provide both foundation, depth and appropriate spiraling. The second would be very boring. I also thought with the new 2022 version there was going to be more novel study?

The units all cover the same topics and just have different readings. So for example, every year they will do a unit on westward expansion.

I could be okay with this because this is a very broad topic are there are some lots of topics under Westward expansion that could be covered. Especially if we consider Westward expansion most expansion beyond the 13 Colonies.


Settling of the MidWest
Settling of the West
Trail of Tears
Settlement building

My daughter keeps saying that she has read all this before. I checked and it is technically different texts, but it's all making the same points, so I understand why she is bored. The bigger problems are the structural ones--not following the science of reading, not offering above grade-level texts--but it would be nice to have content that actually engages the students.

This. The not-well-done spiral curriculum is a problem too, but secondary.

For examples of Benchmark's upper grade materials, 5th graders read a chapter from Call of the Wild and a chapter from Tom Sawyer. The nonfiction materials are generated by Benchmark and are very dull. At our school the students and teachers found the unit on corn so awful that they now skip it.

Do kids ever read entire books, or is it just these chapters?

Teachers can assign online books on Benchmark to a reading group. But whole-group time and most reading-group time at our school is using the base Benchmark materials, which is just excerpts. If your school has purchased enrichment materials or offers ELC, then kids in the enriched reading group can get non-Benchmark offerings added in. However, this is optional and some schools only offer Benchmark. Ours has some enrichment but does not offer ELC, so the offerings outside of Benchmark are pretty sparse and only offered to kids who qualify for enrichment.

So does that mean that the only kids regularly reading entire books are the ones who qualify for enrichment? This is just astonishing to me. I remember reading full books regularly starting in 3rd grade at my public school in the NYC suburbs in the 90s. My daughter is going into K and I’m just very disturbed by all of this.

I've heard this is an issue throughout common core and it's a real disservice to getting kids to develop as readers.

Who decided this was a good idea? It fails kids on so many levels. It means they’re not really being exposed to literature, not developing endurance as a reader who is able to read increasingly longer pieces (which is obviously critical if any of them are expected to succeed in any humanities/social sciences undergrad or grad program), etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like Benchmark is a mess in the lower grades. How about for grades 4 & 5? How much better is the newer Benchmark Advance 2022 better for upper grades?

It's just as bad. It repeats the same topics year after year, so kids are bored. Plus readings are all at or below grade level, so anyone who is above grade level is extra bored and unchallenged.

Same main topic or same content? Because those are two very different things. The first could be very helpful and provide both foundation, depth and appropriate spiraling. The second would be very boring. I also thought with the new 2022 version there was going to be more novel study?

The units all cover the same topics and just have different readings. So for example, every year they will do a unit on westward expansion.

I could be okay with this because this is a very broad topic are there are some lots of topics under Westward expansion that could be covered. Especially if we consider Westward expansion most expansion beyond the 13 Colonies.


Settling of the MidWest
Settling of the West
Trail of Tears
Settlement building

My daughter keeps saying that she has read all this before. I checked and it is technically different texts, but it's all making the same points, so I understand why she is bored. The bigger problems are the structural ones--not following the science of reading, not offering above grade-level texts--but it would be nice to have content that actually engages the students.

This. The not-well-done spiral curriculum is a problem too, but secondary.

For examples of Benchmark's upper grade materials, 5th graders read a chapter from Call of the Wild and a chapter from Tom Sawyer. The nonfiction materials are generated by Benchmark and are very dull. At our school the students and teachers found the unit on corn so awful that they now skip it.

Do kids ever read entire books, or is it just these chapters?

Teachers can assign online books on Benchmark to a reading group. But whole-group time and most reading-group time at our school is using the base Benchmark materials, which is just excerpts. If your school has purchased enrichment materials or offers ELC, then kids in the enriched reading group can get non-Benchmark offerings added in. However, this is optional and some schools only offer Benchmark. Ours has some enrichment but does not offer ELC, so the offerings outside of Benchmark are pretty sparse and only offered to kids who qualify for enrichment.

So does that mean that the only kids regularly reading entire books are the ones who qualify for enrichment? This is just astonishing to me. I remember reading full books regularly starting in 3rd grade at my public school in the NYC suburbs in the 90s. My daughter is going into K and I’m just very disturbed by all of this.

I've heard this is an issue throughout common core and it's a real disservice to getting kids to develop as readers.

Who decided this was a good idea? It fails kids on so many levels. It means they’re not really being exposed to literature, not developing endurance as a reader who is able to read increasingly longer pieces (which is obviously critical if any of them are expected to succeed in any humanities/social sciences undergrad or grad program), etc.

I think the philosophy is the curriculum needs to prep kids for test taking so they are used to reading short stories and articles and analyzing them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like Benchmark is a mess in the lower grades. How about for grades 4 & 5? How much better is the newer Benchmark Advance 2022 better for upper grades?

It's just as bad. It repeats the same topics year after year, so kids are bored. Plus readings are all at or below grade level, so anyone who is above grade level is extra bored and unchallenged.

Same main topic or same content? Because those are two very different things. The first could be very helpful and provide both foundation, depth and appropriate spiraling. The second would be very boring. I also thought with the new 2022 version there was going to be more novel study?

The units all cover the same topics and just have different readings. So for example, every year they will do a unit on westward expansion.

I could be okay with this because this is a very broad topic are there are some lots of topics under Westward expansion that could be covered. Especially if we consider Westward expansion most expansion beyond the 13 Colonies.


Settling of the MidWest
Settling of the West
Trail of Tears
Settlement building

My daughter keeps saying that she has read all this before. I checked and it is technically different texts, but it's all making the same points, so I understand why she is bored. The bigger problems are the structural ones--not following the science of reading, not offering above grade-level texts--but it would be nice to have content that actually engages the students.

This. The not-well-done spiral curriculum is a problem too, but secondary.

For examples of Benchmark's upper grade materials, 5th graders read a chapter from Call of the Wild and a chapter from Tom Sawyer. The nonfiction materials are generated by Benchmark and are very dull. At our school the students and teachers found the unit on corn so awful that they now skip it.

Do kids ever read entire books, or is it just these chapters?

Teachers can assign online books on Benchmark to a reading group. But whole-group time and most reading-group time at our school is using the base Benchmark materials, which is just excerpts. If your school has purchased enrichment materials or offers ELC, then kids in the enriched reading group can get non-Benchmark offerings added in. However, this is optional and some schools only offer Benchmark. Ours has some enrichment but does not offer ELC, so the offerings outside of Benchmark are pretty sparse and only offered to kids who qualify for enrichment.

So does that mean that the only kids regularly reading entire books are the ones who qualify for enrichment? This is just astonishing to me. I remember reading full books regularly starting in 3rd grade at my public school in the NYC suburbs in the 90s. My daughter is going into K and I’m just very disturbed by all of this.

Well I think they all get assigned Benchmark books online. But in terms of physical books, whether anyone gets anything is up to the individual school—there is no requirement that even kids in the enriched reading group get anything extra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like Benchmark is a mess in the lower grades. How about for grades 4 & 5? How much better is the newer Benchmark Advance 2022 better for upper grades?

It's just as bad. It repeats the same topics year after year, so kids are bored. Plus readings are all at or below grade level, so anyone who is above grade level is extra bored and unchallenged.

Same main topic or same content? Because those are two very different things. The first could be very helpful and provide both foundation, depth and appropriate spiraling. The second would be very boring. I also thought with the new 2022 version there was going to be more novel study?

The units all cover the same topics and just have different readings. So for example, every year they will do a unit on westward expansion.

I could be okay with this because this is a very broad topic are there are some lots of topics under Westward expansion that could be covered. Especially if we consider Westward expansion most expansion beyond the 13 Colonies.


Settling of the MidWest
Settling of the West
Trail of Tears
Settlement building

My daughter keeps saying that she has read all this before. I checked and it is technically different texts, but it's all making the same points, so I understand why she is bored. The bigger problems are the structural ones--not following the science of reading, not offering above grade-level texts--but it would be nice to have content that actually engages the students.

This. The not-well-done spiral curriculum is a problem too, but secondary.

For examples of Benchmark's upper grade materials, 5th graders read a chapter from Call of the Wild and a chapter from Tom Sawyer. The nonfiction materials are generated by Benchmark and are very dull. At our school the students and teachers found the unit on corn so awful that they now skip it.

Do kids ever read entire books, or is it just these chapters?

Teachers can assign online books on Benchmark to a reading group. But whole-group time and most reading-group time at our school is using the base Benchmark materials, which is just excerpts. If your school has purchased enrichment materials or offers ELC, then kids in the enriched reading group can get non-Benchmark offerings added in. However, this is optional and some schools only offer Benchmark. Ours has some enrichment but does not offer ELC, so the offerings outside of Benchmark are pretty sparse and only offered to kids who qualify for enrichment.

So does that mean that the only kids regularly reading entire books are the ones who qualify for enrichment? This is just astonishing to me. I remember reading full books regularly starting in 3rd grade at my public school in the NYC suburbs in the 90s. My daughter is going into K and I’m just very disturbed by all of this.

Well I think they all get assigned Benchmark books online. But in terms of physical books, whether anyone gets anything is up to the individual school—there is no requirement that even kids in the enriched reading group get anything extra.

I don’t even mean physical vs online, though I do think reading comprehension is much better with physical materials. I am really asking whether the books the kids get assigned are full books, or are just excerpts.