MCPS: assessment and differentiation at the K level

[Anonymous]

We have a child ready to enter K in MCPS in the fall. I'm wondering if they assess reading or math skills at that level. Do they track the kids? Is there a lot of differentiation or does it vary depending on who the principal is? Thanks for any info!

[Anonymous]

They spend a number of weeks at the beginning of the year doing assessments (for our kindergarten they did reading first, then math).

I'm sure the differentiation depends on the principal--perhaps you could name the school and people can give their experiences. I also had good luck taking a tour of our school. The principal walked me around (a very good sign of involvement) and answered my questions about differentiation.

It can be hard to get information about what sort of differentiation might occur, since schools are used to having many children come in with a huge range of reading skills. In particularly, I'm sure they get tired of helicopter parents concerned that their child, already reading at a K or 1 level, will be totally bored, when in fact there will be a number of other kids in this same situation. However, if your child is a true outlier in some way, it might be helpful for you to give specifics (my child doesn't know his/her numbers yet, or my child is already doing multiplication).

At our school, a number of kids are pulled out of our kindergarten child's class for reading (at a few different levels), and some math differentiation happens within the classroom. I know that the school would not label this as tracking, so I'd be wary of using the term with a teacher or principal.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks for the info. My son is reading, specifically is now reading the Arthur chapter books independently. Has finished all the Cynthia Rylant chapter books (Poppleton, Henry & Mudge, Mr. Putter and Tabby)-could read independently and discuss. Does some addition and subtraction with numbers < 10; no multiplication. I'm sure K will be plenty challenging for everything except possibly reading. He is attending Rock Creek Forest Elementary.