Anyone knows the Early Entrance Exam to Kindergarten?

[Anonymous]

PP at 11:40 - Thanks! Great advice! Definitely taking a low key approach with my daughter about how we're going to see the school and meet some of the teachers to see about what school she'll go to next year. Can always use the reminder to (try) not to stress, though!

[Anonymous]

My daughter missed the cut off by five days. We applied for EEK and were denied. Then we appealled, were accepted and my daughter has been doing very well ever since. It's such an individual decision thought and is certainly not right for every child.

My daughter is now in first grade reading at 5th grade level and is one year ahead in math. Is she a genious? No, but I can't imagine having waited another year. Socially she is fantastic, participates in class, follows directions well, makes friends easliy, etc. If anything I wish that her work was bit more challenging- it just all seems too easy for her.

Her K teacher told me that she was on the EEK committee and agreed with the initial rejection. She was quite upset that her decision was overturned by the appeals committee (and told my husband and I that on a couple of occassions). Fortunately she eventually came around and realized that my daughter belonged in K that year.

Out of curiosity how is your child a year ahead in math since MCPS has not allowed acceleration for the past 2 years under 2.0?

[Anonymous]

Also would love to know how she is at 5th grade for reading. This would mean she is reading/writing at level T, which I guess is possible but I thought there was some sort of cap for instruction.

I'm sure for these kids pushed ahead the early grades are OK, its middle and high school that would be my concern.

[Anonymous]

I have to say one thing bothers me the most is the secrecy of the test. Whatever you do MCPS, please be more transparent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have to say one thing bothers me the most is the secrecy of the test. Whatever you do MCPS, please be more transparent.

Yes, I agree. Actually, I think it would be useful. Parents considering early entrance could look at the test and think, "Yes, this supports my belief that my child is ready" or "Actually, this suggests that my child is not ready."

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately as we know, the more that is known about the test, the more prepping there will be.

[Anonymous]

I've seen the MCPS assessment--it has a lot of literacy skills like sight words, concepts of print, retelling a story, and some math concepts like counting sets. It also has an oral language component that includes repeating back multiple sentences. I don't know what the passing score is, but to pass, children would not have to have all the skills they need at the end of K. But they definitely would be have to already have some of the skills that are taught in K.

I think it's hard that it's so secret, but if the actual document was made public, you know there would be a lot of parents who would prep their kids in advance, and that's just not how EEK is supposed to work. Teachers also do an informal social evaluation to look at maturity and K readiness.

[Anonymous]

I've heard from parents who've gone through this in PG County that they make the test hard because there are really no extra spots in K classes, so they want to make sure that the kids they are making room for are those who would really be done a disservice by not starting that year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's hard that it's so secret, but if the actual document was made public, you know there would be a lot of parents who would prep their kids in advance, and that's just not how EEK is supposed to work. Teachers also do an informal social evaluation to look at maturity and K readiness.

It wouldn't have to be the actual document -- it could even be a general description, like "Your child should be able to recognize basic sight words, repeat back multiple sentences, retell a simple story, and count sets up to 20".

And as for the prepping, I wonder how much there really would be, given that (anecdotally, at least) there seems to be a whole lot more societal support for holding a child back a year than putting the child in kindergarten (up to 6 weeks) early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the poster from 2/21 at 10:30 who appealed an initial EEK rejection, would you be willing to talk a bit about how you appealed? My daughter misses the cut-off by 1 day (15 hours to be exact), and I am dreading the "assessment" experience. I've been told the testing requires children to basically demonstrate they already have all the skills other children will have by the END of kindergarten, which seems like a ridiculously high standard. I'm confident my daughter is ready for kindergarten, but I don't think she should be expected to be ready for first grade skills at the time of the assessment when she'll be 4.5! I am also frustrated at the lack of attention the school systems seems to be paying to examining the specific child's needs. My daughter is 15 hours too young and clearly would not benefit from spending another year in preschool, but there is no apparent consideration for that. There is a rigid test with rigid expectations and that's the end of it. I feel like I need to prepare to do battle (e.g. appeal a potentially negative decision) to ensure the best outcome for MY child.

Hi- It's 10:30 again:

When I got the letter of rejection I made an appointment to meet with the principal to review the decision. While she couldn't show me the documents, I gently pressed for as much specific information as I could get. What lead the committee to think that she was too immature? Why did the committe think that her fine motor skills were not advanced enough? Etc...

It was hard because I wasn't able to meet with the "commitee" so all the principal could tell me was what was on the form (whether she witnessed it or not). In my strongly worded request for an appeal I address every single issue point by point using as much relevant detail as I could. When I called to make sure that my letter of appeal had been recieved, the person thanked me for submitting such a detailed letter. I wonder if the appeal letters are usually emotional rants.

I also got a "letter of recommendation" from DD's pre-K teacher. Who was shocked when I told her that DD was denied. I asked her to provide specific information in the areas of 'concern'.

I'm a realist and I know that DD, while super awesome, is not perfect. If I thought that the committee's observations were valid I would have sucked it up and moved on.

Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My daughter missed the cut off by five days. We applied for EEK and were denied. Then we appealled, were accepted and my daughter has been doing very well ever since. It's such an individual decision thought and is certainly not right for every child.

My daughter is now in first grade reading at 5th grade level and is one year ahead in math. Is she a genious? No, but I can't imagine having waited another year. Socially she is fantastic, participates in class, follows directions well, makes friends easliy, etc. If anything I wish that her work was bit more challenging- it just all seems too easy for her.

Her K teacher told me that she was on the EEK committee and agreed with the initial rejection. She was quite upset that her decision was overturned by the appeals committee (and told my husband and I that on a couple of occassions). Fortunately she eventually came around and realized that my daughter belonged in K that year.

Out of curiosity how is your child a year ahead in math since MCPS has not allowed acceleration for the past 2 years under 2.0?

Perhaps I should have specified that while DD is ahead for both reading and math, she doesn't leave the classroom for seperate instruction.

Her teacher gives her 2nd (and sometimes 3rd) grade math worksheets because DD finishes her classwork so quickly.

Her reading level was evaluated as being at the beginning of fith grade level (so says her report card). She plows through books (that her 11 y/o cousin struggles with) and understands plots, answers questions about them, etc.

[Anonymous]

PP who described your appeal process - thank you! Your response is very helpful and sounds like the kind of approach I would also take. I agree with other posters that part of the problem is the lack of transparency. I requested a meeting with the school to go over the process and expectations, and literally all they would tell me was "EEK kids should be 'head and shoulders' above." Above what/whom? And what do you mean by 'head and shoulders'? There will be kids who meet the deadline but don't I'm sure MCPS doesn't want people to prep to the test, but it's also very hard to make the best decisions as a parent throughout the process without transparent information. Anyway, very much appreciate your response and others. Best of luck to everyone - whenever your kids start their school journey!

[Anonymous]

The test is short. My son passed and is now finishing k.

It was done in a room with other kids, but at a table off to the side. I think it is intentional to test attention span/ability to focus. I believe they have to know how to count to 20. After the one on one, before he came out to me, he was allowed to go play with the other kids. .. which i think was a part of observing social readiness. My son's k teacher tells me i made the right decision, he is ahead of most kids in the class and she always forgets he is younger. (He is younger than some kids by more than a year).

[Anonymous]

Recently received rejection for EEK in mail. Very generic two-liner letter from MCPS. Not interested in appealing but considering meeting with them to discuss results to see if there is any helpful feedback regarding areas of growth/strengths, etc. But it sounds like they are so cryptic with test results that I am not sure it is even worth meeting with them /if we would get any helpful info from them at all. Thoughts on this? Have any of you gotten any helpful info at a post-rejection conference? TIA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Recently received rejection for EEK in mail. Very generic two-liner letter from MCPS. Not interested in appealing but considering meeting with them to discuss results to see if there is any helpful feedback regarding areas of growth/strengths, etc. But it sounds like they are so cryptic with test results that I am not sure it is even worth meeting with them /if we would get any helpful info from them at all. Thoughts on this? Have any of you gotten any helpful info at a post-rejection conference? TIA.

No advice since we never did EEK, but seems bold to expect the school administration to take time out of their busy schedules to meet with you about something like this. Does it really matter why your kid was rejected?