Benchmark, almost one year done. How are people feeling about it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think they should be reading chapter books as a class in 3rd grade+. I have good memories of my whole class reading Charlotte’s Web and The Indian In The Cupboard when I was a kid.

3rd grader here and Benchmark seems difficult for this age range. My DS is having trouble with the “theme”-type questions that come up on the assessments. There was an assessment with passages from Little Women and a chart on it asking students to identify which “theme” occurred in either story. That’s a lot for a 3rd grader IMO. One thing that I did appreciate is that his class is doing spelling quizzes in class this year, and I do think my kid’s spelling has improved as a result.

I’ll have a K next school year and I’m hoping it’s good for the younger age range with the greater focus on phonics.

My third grader has no issues with the curriculum and she is not in AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure where parents are getting that their third graders should be reading novels in elementary schools - that's your job as a parent. My kids are literally sitting on the floor reading books this morning because they both woke up early and finished breakfast quickly. Do better, parents!

I have the third grade AAP kid. He has been reading novels this entire time. He has read probably half the JFIC section at the library. But since around Feb the books I get from there collect dust. In other words it's him, not me.

Right, exactly, it's him, not the curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No curriculum is perfect, and I would have preferred CKLA. (Which APS and MCPS just chose).

That said, this Benchmark is a huge improvement over the Balanced Literacy/Whole Language crap FCPS that used to use before Benchmark. I also believe it will have better implementation as faculty get more familiar with the new curriculum.

I'm just pleased that we have a real curriculum instead of stuff that teachers pulled together on their own off of Teachers Pay Teachers. If I never see one more Comic Sans worksheet, I'll be very happy!

*I don't think some of the moms here have an understanding of what the previous curriculum was (or wasn't, actually, because it wasn't standardized across grade level teams let alone the entire school system). They should all be grateful for a standardized curriculum - anything is better than what we had before, trust me!!!

Haha there are tons of benchmark resources on TPT. I have used some for writing because the writing is hard!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do they use Benchmark in middle school? Please tell me no!

The Virginia State literacy act is for K-8 so something is coming

I'm pretty sure they already use HMH and No Red Ink in middle school. My MS kid has unit tests that are from the county (according to the ELA teacher). They also do a lot of No Red Ink practice activities and essays.

But the program has to already have been approved by the state, so is HMH approved by the state?

Since when is middle school K-5? The Virginia Literacy Act states:

"Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year:
Every student in kindergarten to grade five will receive core literacy instruction based in scientifically based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction, as defined in the VLA. Students in kindergarten through grade eight will also receive evidence-based supplemental instruction and intervention, as outlined in an individualized student reading plan, if they do not meet literacy benchmarks."

I'm sure HMH and NRI are fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do they use Benchmark in middle school? Please tell me no!

The Virginia State literacy act is for K-8 so something is coming

I'm pretty sure they already use HMH and No Red Ink in middle school. My MS kid has unit tests that are from the county (according to the ELA teacher). They also do a lot of No Red Ink practice activities and essays.

But the program has to already have been approved by the state, so is HMH approved by the state?

https://www.doe.virginia.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/60540/638785766729930000

Both No Red Ink and Lexia PowerUp, which are used in FCPS middle schools, are listed on this document, which lists EBLI programs for grades 6-8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do they use Benchmark in middle school? Please tell me no!

The Virginia State literacy act is for K-8 so something is coming

I'm pretty sure they already use HMH and No Red Ink in middle school. My MS kid has unit tests that are from the county (according to the ELA teacher). They also do a lot of No Red Ink practice activities and essays.

But the program has to already have been approved by the state, so is HMH approved by the state?

Since when is middle school K-5? The Virginia Literacy Act states:

"Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year:
Every student in kindergarten to grade five will receive core literacy instruction based in scientifically based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction, as defined in the VLA. Students in kindergarten through grade eight will also receive evidence-based supplemental instruction and intervention, as outlined in an individualized student reading plan, if they do not meet literacy benchmarks."

I'm sure HMH and NRI are fine.

Keep googling, my friend. It also includes 6-8. You just didn’t go far enough into the internet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do they use Benchmark in middle school? Please tell me no!

The Virginia State literacy act is for K-8 so something is coming

I'm pretty sure they already use HMH and No Red Ink in middle school. My MS kid has unit tests that are from the county (according to the ELA teacher). They also do a lot of No Red Ink practice activities and essays.

But the program has to already have been approved by the state, so is HMH approved by the state?

Since when is middle school K-5? The Virginia Literacy Act states:

"Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year:
Every student in kindergarten to grade five will receive core literacy instruction based in scientifically based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction, as defined in the VLA. Students in kindergarten through grade eight will also receive evidence-based supplemental instruction and intervention, as outlined in an individualized student reading plan, if they do not meet literacy benchmarks."

I'm sure HMH and NRI are fine.

Keep googling, my friend. It also includes 6-8. You just didn’t go far enough into the internet.

The VLA does include 6-8, as shown in the text posted above. HOWEVER, the requirement for a specific basal DOES NOT apply to middle school.

I do not need to "go far...into the internet," nor do I need to Google. I am trained in secondary-level VLA, EBLI, and ELA; I get updates straight from VDOE, for secondary literacy instruction is what I do for a living.

[Anonymous]

6th grade in middle schools use benchmark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids both complain that it's hard and admit that it's better.

One said it made the SOL seem easy this year.

The Benchmark activities are much more aligned to SOL questions.

They are absolutely not aligned to the SOL questions. They don't prepare kids for many of the types of questions on the SOL. And Benchmark is so crammed together that there's no time to supplement, unless you eliminate Benchmark lessons, which I had to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 5th grade AAP kid went from enjoying reading to telling me language arts is his least favorite part of the day

I don’t know if it’s the age, the teacher, the curriculum, but this year has been really rough.

+1 my 6th grader who was an advanced reader now absolutely hates reading and LA. She also is worried about how she will do in honors English next year. Her confidence has tanked.

And here's the issue - moms of "advanced kids" are starting to realize that their children were actually very far behind where they should be. Just because your child was getting high comprehension and fluency scores doesn't mean that she was actually an advanced reader and writer, PP. Benchmark is actually digging in to literacy which is something that the previous "curriculum" never did.

If you read the Benchmark reading selections for 6th grade, you would see that many of them are dull and uninteresting. The fiction selections are only one chapter, or part of a chapter, from a novel. Benchmark does not dig in. The questions and answers on the comprehension tests are not very well thought out. It's a case of the emperor having no clothes. Many people are being fooled because we're told that it aligns with the Science of Reading, so we think it's good. But the curriculum is poorly written and the selections are uninspired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do they use Benchmark in middle school? Please tell me no!

The Virginia State literacy act is for K-8 so something is coming

I'm pretty sure they already use HMH and No Red Ink in middle school. My MS kid has unit tests that are from the county (according to the ELA teacher). They also do a lot of No Red Ink practice activities and essays.

But the program has to already have been approved by the state, so is HMH approved by the state?

Since when is middle school K-5? The Virginia Literacy Act states:

"Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year:
Every student in kindergarten to grade five will receive core literacy instruction based in scientifically based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction, as defined in the VLA. Students in kindergarten through grade eight will also receive evidence-based supplemental instruction and intervention, as outlined in an individualized student reading plan, if they do not meet literacy benchmarks."

I'm sure HMH and NRI are fine.

Keep googling, my friend. It also includes 6-8. You just didn’t go far enough into the internet.

The VLA does include 6-8, as shown in the text posted above. HOWEVER, the requirement for a specific basal DOES NOT apply to middle school.

I do not need to "go far...into the internet," nor do I need to Google. I am trained in secondary-level VLA, EBLI, and ELA; I get updates straight from VDOE, for secondary literacy instruction is what I do for a living.

You mean where it says “since when is middle school k-5?” With all that training, I’m surprised you weren’t a bit clearer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Benchmark is terrible. My students hate it, my colleagues hate it, I hate it. It's poorly written and makes language arts an unpleasant experience. It won't be better next year.

Ditto.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 5th grade AAP kid went from enjoying reading to telling me language arts is his least favorite part of the day

I don’t know if it’s the age, the teacher, the curriculum, but this year has been really rough.

+1 my 6th grader who was an advanced reader now absolutely hates reading and LA. She also is worried about how she will do in honors English next year. Her confidence has tanked.

And here's the issue - moms of "advanced kids" are starting to realize that their children were actually very far behind where they should be. Just because your child was getting high comprehension and fluency scores doesn't mean that she was actually an advanced reader and writer, PP. Benchmark is actually digging in to literacy which is something that the previous "curriculum" never did.

If you read the Benchmark reading selections for 6th grade, you would see that many of them are dull and uninteresting. The fiction selections are only one chapter, or part of a chapter, from a novel. Benchmark does not dig in. The questions and answers on the comprehension tests are not very well thought out. It's a case of the emperor having no clothes. Many people are being fooled because we're told that it aligns with the Science of Reading, so we think it's good. But the curriculum is poorly written and the selections are uninspired.

+1 exactly…I’m a former FCPS teacher who knows what good curriculum is and this isn’t it. Most of these armchair quarterback mommies have no idea what they are talking about or what is actually considered good curriculum or good instruction. We need to be asking the teachers.

[Anonymous]

DCUM: Textbooks, textbooks, textbooks! We want textbooks!

Also DCUM: My kid now hates language arts. It’s boring and the teacher doesn’t have time to individualize or do extensions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do they use Benchmark in middle school? Please tell me no!

The Virginia State literacy act is for K-8 so something is coming

I'm pretty sure they already use HMH and No Red Ink in middle school. My MS kid has unit tests that are from the county (according to the ELA teacher). They also do a lot of No Red Ink practice activities and essays.

But the program has to already have been approved by the state, so is HMH approved by the state?

Since when is middle school K-5? The Virginia Literacy Act states:

"Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year:
Every student in kindergarten to grade five will receive core literacy instruction based in scientifically based reading research and evidence-based literacy instruction, as defined in the VLA. Students in kindergarten through grade eight will also receive evidence-based supplemental instruction and intervention, as outlined in an individualized student reading plan, if they do not meet literacy benchmarks."

I'm sure HMH and NRI are fine.

Keep googling, my friend. It also includes 6-8. You just didn’t go far enough into the internet.

The VLA does include 6-8, as shown in the text posted above. HOWEVER, the requirement for a specific basal DOES NOT apply to middle school.

I do not need to "go far...into the internet," nor do I need to Google. I am trained in secondary-level VLA, EBLI, and ELA; I get updates straight from VDOE, for secondary literacy instruction is what I do for a living.

You mean where it says “since when is middle school k-5?” With all that training, I’m surprised you weren’t a bit clearer.

Reread, dear.

The post to which that response was written said the curriculum for middle school has to approved by the state. Since middle school is not K-5, the program does not need to be approved, hence the response "Since when is middle school K-5?"

It's pretty clear what it meant.