Benchmark reading assessments

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haha! Benchmark assessments are crap, very hard, and not used as an indicator for success at our school. We are not even doing them this year as they were not an accurate representation of what a student could do, made the kids have nervous breakdowns and low self-esteem as they rarely passed, and made our data skew negatively.

Yes they're very unpopular with those who prefer grade inflation and easy A's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who are getting the results of the assessments--does the school share the questions and what your DC got right/wrong, or just a grade? I see a grade in parentvue, but I don't see any way to see the assignment. It's not in Canvas anywhere that I can tell.

I wish we would see the unit test but they are all on the computer. From what I remember about the Benchmark curriculum review the real Ed Report complaints were around lack of explicit phonics, which MCPS has resolved with combining Really Great Reading. So besides the assessments being hard what’s the real issue? If the CES and High fliers are generally doing well pretty easily, and not all on grade students are getting A’s, that would tell me this on level curriculum is of appropriate difficulty.

There are lots of smart kids but that doesn’t mean they all require the GT designation nor that they all are going to be straight A students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like mcps is doing a disservice to most kids who are not enrolled in ELC. The achievement gap will only broaden if some kids get ELC and others are stuck with benchmark. I am an immigrant, back home the curriculum used was for everyone. There was no acceleration or differentiation. I know its the norm here. But what we had worked. The curriculum was really good and challenging and some kids did really well ant go A’s others got B’s, C’s , D’s and some failed too. Everyone had a chance to learn the same material and yes it was more difficult for some than others but it was not watered down for kids were less smart or anything. It seemed fair. What mcps is doing is unfair. I don’t have a 4th/5th grader in benchmark but the kids I know who are not in ELC are fully capable of doing ELC.

MCPS doesn’t even offer ELC to all the kids who qualify for it — they should start by expanding it to all schools so that kids who qualify for enrichment get it. Right now it is in only half the schools

I'm pretty sure that is happening starting next year. All MCPS schools will have ELC in 4th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like mcps is doing a disservice to most kids who are not enrolled in ELC. The achievement gap will only broaden if some kids get ELC and others are stuck with benchmark. I am an immigrant, back home the curriculum used was for everyone. There was no acceleration or differentiation. I know its the norm here. But what we had worked. The curriculum was really good and challenging and some kids did really well ant go A’s others got B’s, C’s , D’s and some failed too. Everyone had a chance to learn the same material and yes it was more difficult for some than others but it was not watered down for kids were less smart or anything. It seemed fair. What mcps is doing is unfair. I don’t have a 4th/5th grader in benchmark but the kids I know who are not in ELC are fully capable of doing ELC.

MCPS doesn’t even offer ELC to all the kids who qualify for it — they should start by expanding it to all schools so that kids who qualify for enrichment get it. Right now it is in only half the schools

I'm pretty sure that is happening starting next year. All MCPS schools will have ELC in 4th grade.

That would be amazing. Have they announced that? I haven't heard anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who are getting the results of the assessments--does the school share the questions and what your DC got right/wrong, or just a grade? I see a grade in parentvue, but I don't see any way to see the assignment. It's not in Canvas anywhere that I can tell.

I wish we would see the unit test but they are all on the computer. From what I remember about the Benchmark curriculum review the real Ed Report complaints were around lack of explicit phonics, which MCPS has resolved with combining Really Great Reading. So besides the assessments being hard what’s the real issue? If the CES and High fliers are generally doing well pretty easily, and not all on grade students are getting A’s, that would tell me this on level curriculum is of appropriate difficulty.

There are lots of smart kids but that doesn’t mean they all require the GT designation nor that they all are going to be straight A students.

For us the issue is that they don't offer above-grade level material. My kid is bored and is not being challenged. ELC would help for 4th and above, but not below. They need a curriculum that enables teacher to differentiate, as well as addressing the phonics issues. (BTW we are at a school that is piloting the new Benchmark curriculum and does not offer RGR, and it's not going well in terms of phonics instruction. I really, really hope they offer RGR to all K-2 classes next year.)