Reading groups being slowed down?

[Anonymous]

Ok, so we live in MOCO and I have a kindergartner who is pretty advanced- the teacher pretty much said it. I don't think she's getting too much attention in her classroom as the teacher has to focus on the other kids. We're also planning to move in a couple of years- either to some other area in MOCO or out. For those of you who are so frustrated with the state of our MOCO schools, would you say that it makes sense to move out to somewhere like Fairfax or Howard County? Is it really much better in those areas or are we going to hit the same issues there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I agree with the PP. There seems to be a double standard. We fully (me included) support services for kids who need extra help or are learning disabled, but NOT for kids who would benefit from some extra challenge. Why is that?

What extras are you looking for? There is the highly gifted centers, magnets for middle school, what exactly are you looking for?
Plus our teacher will give extra assignments if you ask for them. Plus, we do extras at home. Never expected not to.

gifted centers don't start until 4th and kids have to be pulled to another school and bussed very long days with parents having to be able to drive then early and pick up at their local school. Why should someone that is smart have to do that? Growing up, gifted classes were offered in every school.

So, in other words, there actually are extras -- you just don't think that there are enough extras.

No there aren't ANY extras for gifted kids within their schools. Why don't we bus the dumb kids offer to extra help schools and see how that flies?

LOL!

[Anonymous]

^^Howard County is excellent. Fairfax is better but not by much.

[Anonymous]

Not sure about a "cap" as my dd is a couple a grades ahead and there are many others in a Farms school. It's not a big deal if they work with the slower kids because the most relevant reading takes place at home.

Lastly, teachers can't waste time testing level upon level til infinity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I agree with the PP. There seems to be a double standard. We fully (me included) support services for kids who need extra help or are learning disabled, but NOT for kids who would benefit from some extra challenge. Why is that?

What extras are you looking for? There is the highly gifted centers, magnets for middle school, what exactly are you looking for?
Plus our teacher will give extra assignments if you ask for them. Plus, we do extras at home. Never expected not to.

gifted centers don't start until 4th and kids have to be pulled to another school and bussed very long days with parents having to be able to drive then early and pick up at their local school. Why should someone that is smart have to do that? Growing up, gifted classes were offered in every school.

So, in other words, there actually are extras -- you just don't think that there are enough extras.

No there aren't ANY extras for gifted kids within their schools. Why don't we bus the dumb kids offer to extra help schools and see how that flies?

What a lovely person you must be. And an effective advocate for services for the gifted, too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure about a "cap" as my dd is a couple a grades ahead and there are many others in a Farms school. It's not a big deal if they work with the slower kids because the most relevant reading takes place at home.

Lastly, teachers can't waste time testing level upon level til infinity.

Can I ask how you found out your dd was a couple of grades ahead? Was she tested? I was specifically told at her school that they only test up to level 16 for K. This doesn't bother me as much since she is only in Kindergarten but I do worry as she gets to the higher grades. Interested to know if this policy is county wide or if it varies from school to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure about a "cap" as my dd is a couple a grades ahead and there are many others in a Farms school. It's not a big deal if they work with the slower kids because the most relevant reading takes place at home.

Lastly, teachers can't waste time testing level upon level til infinity.

Can I ask how you found out your dd was a couple of grades ahead? Was she tested? I was specifically told at her school that they only test up to level 16 for K. This doesn't bother me as much since she is only in Kindergarten but I do worry as she gets to the higher grades. Interested to know if this policy is county wide or if it varies from school to school.

I know the same way everyone else knows. The dot on the report card.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^Howard County is excellent. Fairfax is better but not by much.

What makes Howard better?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure about a "cap" as my dd is a couple a grades ahead and there are many others in a Farms school. It's not a big deal if they work with the slower kids because the most relevant reading takes place at home.

Lastly, teachers can't waste time testing level upon level til infinity.

Can I ask how you found out your dd was a couple of grades ahead? Was she tested? I was specifically told at her school that they only test up to level 16 for K. This doesn't bother me as much since she is only in Kindergarten but I do worry as she gets to the higher grades. Interested to know if this policy is county wide or if it varies from school to school.

I know the same way everyone else knows. The dot on the report card.

Cool. Good to know that not all schools cap at one grade level above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure about a "cap" as my dd is a couple a grades ahead and there are many others in a Farms school. It's not a big deal if they work with the slower kids because the most relevant reading takes place at home.

Lastly, teachers can't waste time testing level upon level til infinity.

I agree. And, I don't really care about testing 'til infinity'. But, I do care that my kid's not getting ANY reading instruction at school. Simply because she's past the expected reading level for her grade. WTF?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure about a "cap" as my dd is a couple a grades ahead and there are many others in a Farms school. It's not a big deal if they work with the slower kids because the most relevant reading takes place at home.

Lastly, teachers can't waste time testing level upon level til infinity.

I agree. And, I don't really care about testing 'til infinity'. But, I do care that my kid's not getting ANY reading instruction at school. Simply because she's past the expected reading level for her grade. WTF?

1) your kid gets NO reading instruction, none, nada??
2) so if ur kid reads at a college level u expect a 3rd or 4th grade teacher to teach to THAT level on a regular basis ??
3) Have you talked to the teacher about how best to supplement in the classroom or even at home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure about a "cap" as my dd is a couple a grades ahead and there are many others in a Farms school. It's not a big deal if they work with the slower kids because the most relevant reading takes place at home.

Lastly, teachers can't waste time testing level upon level til infinity.

I agree. And, I don't really care about testing 'til infinity'. But, I do care that my kid's not getting ANY reading instruction at school. Simply because she's past the expected reading level for her grade. WTF?

Your kid's not getting ANY reading instruction at school? What do they do with her during the Reading/Language Arts block?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I agree with the PP. There seems to be a double standard. We fully (me included) support services for kids who need extra help or are learning disabled, but NOT for kids who would benefit from some extra challenge. Why is that?

What extras are you looking for? There is the highly gifted centers, magnets for middle school, what exactly are you looking for?
Plus our teacher will give extra assignments if you ask for them. Plus, we do extras at home. Never expected not to.

gifted centers don't start until 4th and kids have to be pulled to another school and bussed very long days with parents having to be able to drive then early and pick up at their local school. Why should someone that is smart have to do that? Growing up, gifted classes were offered in every school.

So, in other words, there actually are extras -- you just don't think that there are enough extras.

No there aren't ANY extras for gifted kids within their schools. Why don't we bus the dumb kids offer to extra help schools and see how that flies?

What a lovely person you must be. And an effective advocate for services for the gifted, too!

I think it is sarcasm to prove a point. Calm down.

[Anonymous]

I volunteer in school at least once a week and it is clear the kids in the higher reading groups much less. I wish teachers would keep a chart to check off when groups meet. My daughter in 1st meets twice a week tops for 10min. I ask her everyday and I mark it down. When I am in school, I can see how little of groups she takes. Maybe 2 a day. The rest do worksheets or read a book at the table. Many fool around with no discipline. So uninspiring and boring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure about a "cap" as my dd is a couple a grades ahead and there are many others in a Farms school. It's not a big deal if they work with the slower kids because the most relevant reading takes place at home.

Lastly, teachers can't waste time testing level upon level til infinity.

I agree. And, I don't really care about testing 'til infinity'. But, I do care that my kid's not getting ANY reading instruction at school. Simply because she's past the expected reading level for her grade. WTF?

Your kid's not getting ANY reading instruction at school? What do they do with her during the Reading/Language Arts block?

I'm the PP. I'll respond to you and the other PP who asked.

I have a 3rd grader and a K. I'll talk about my K student.

Her class has an hour and twenty minutes in the AM designated for Literacy Centers/Small Group Reading Instruction. I guess the theory is that the teacher spends 20 minutes with 6 different reading groups? Well, it doesn't work that way.

My kid is NOT a genius, but she's always liked to read. She was assessed at Level 14. There is one other boy in her reading group. They have met not even met so far this month. Last month, they met 3 times the whole month. And, it's not just her reading group that doesn't meet. The other 'advanced' reading group barely meets as well.

So, while the teacher works with the other reading groups, DD is supposed to be sitting quietly and reading to herself (which is fine, but I don't really consider that 'reading instruction') or they're given BS (IMO) worksheets to color/cut/paste. Some of the kids do that, and some of them just play pretend in the corner or draw or whatever.

Yes, I've talked to the teacher about it. I actually think she's a very good teacher! She's doing the best she can with 21 other kids in the class. It's her responsibility to get all the K students reading at Level 6 by the end of the year. So, she has to spend more time with the kids who need help. DD's teacher has given me things to work on with DD at home (and we do), and given me the list of Sight Words for Grades 1 and 2, etc. We do that, and I volunteer every week in the classroom, but I stand by the fact that my kid isn't really getting 'reading instruction' at school.

I'd even rather they just had an aide come in and play games with the kids during that 80 minute period. Anything would be an improvement over sitting around for that time every day!