No More Reading Levels in Grades 3 - 5

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And is that what we want for our kids? Hey, at least our school system is not as bad as DC. Or WV?

That’s setting the bar pretty low, don’t you think?

And in that case, I want to see my taxes go down so a I can use that money to pay for private school instead.

Nobody is saying that.

And no, your taxes aren't going down so that you can use that money to pay for private school instead. If you want to live in a low-tax state, try Kansas. How are the public schools in Kansas, these days?

Really? We're supposed to be satisfied because things aren't as bad as they could be? Do you apply that broadly? Do you say "oh well, I got crappy medical care at that doctor's office, but hey -- our healthcare system is better than what they have in Somalia, so I'm not going to complain."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It’s not that. It’s the fact that they no longer want to keep records. Keeping it off the report card makes it easier to say that kids are all ‘doing fine’. Allows MCPS to get out of providing services for kids who might need services. Allows MCPS to talk about how all the URMS are doing fantastic because there is no data otherwise.

I really, really wish that people would stop referring to "URMS". It's dehumanizing. If you're talking about kids who are black, kids who are Hispanic/Latino, and kids who are poor, then please talk about kids who are black, kids who are Hispanic/Latino, and kids who are poor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And is that what we want for our kids? Hey, at least our school system is not as bad as DC. Or WV?

That’s setting the bar pretty low, don’t you think?

And in that case, I want to see my taxes go down so a I can use that money to pay for private school instead.

Nobody is saying that.

And no, your taxes aren't going down so that you can use that money to pay for private school instead. If you want to live in a low-tax state, try Kansas. How are the public schools in Kansas, these days?

Really? We're supposed to be satisfied because things aren't as bad as they could be? Do you apply that broadly? Do you say "oh well, I got crappy medical care at that doctor's office, but hey -- our healthcare system is better than what they have in Somalia, so I'm not going to complain."

I think that there is a meaningful distinction between "Our schools could be better, but they could also be worse" and "Our schools aren't the worst ever anywhere, so nobody is allowed to complain."

[Anonymous]

MIRL and these other tests that have been constantly administered are often done incorrectly because teachers have to process so many students in little time. More often than not they just rubber stamp kids to the next level on the achievement escalator. The result is kids who can read higher are often marked lower. This set of standards takes up valuable class time and harms more often than it helps. Overall this is a huge step in the right direction. Consistent standardized tests like MAP-R are signfiicantly more helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MIRL and these other tests that have been constantly administered are often done incorrectly because teachers have to process so many students in little time. More often than not they just rubber stamp kids to the next level on the achievement escalator. The result is kids who can read higher are often marked lower. This set of standards takes up valuable class time and harms more often than it helps. Overall this is a huge step in the right direction. Consistent standardized tests like MAP-R are signfiicantly more helpful.

Giving a student a running record (MIRL) doesn't take that long. In fact, you can do a couple of kids from each reading group daily and easily be done by the end of the month to input the data. It's the data entry that was a killer. I agree that MAPs provide a great deal of information. I sure wish the curriculum aligned better with the questions asked of students on MAP testing. K to 2 will be giving kids the MAP-RF test for the first time this year. They have to give it the same months as mClass so that's quite a bit of testing for 5 to 8 year olds. I'm thinking they might be phasing out mClass in the future and replace it with MAP-RF since it's completely computer scored and doesn't require sub time for a teacher to complete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It’s not that. It’s the fact that they no longer want to keep records. Keeping it off the report card makes it easier to say that kids are all ‘doing fine’. Allows MCPS to get out of providing services for kids who might need services. Allows MCPS to talk about how all the URMS are doing fantastic because there is no data otherwise.

I really, really wish that people would stop referring to "URMS". It's dehumanizing. If you're talking about kids who are black, kids who are Hispanic/Latino, and kids who are poor, then please talk about kids who are black, kids who are Hispanic/Latino, and kids who are poor.

wow, a 4 letter acronym would sure be more efficient than what you wrote.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents with higher achieving students have just about had it with the dumbing down. Mcps will eventually see more and more higher achieving students pulled out. If more reasonably priced private schools or education co-ops existed, I'd pull both of my kids out immediately.

That's exactly why we're sending our kid to a private school this year. We can't afford the $40K/year schools without seriously jeopardizing retirement and college savings, but we can swing $25K. When we toured it, we looked at each other and said "this is a lovely school, but it almost seems like what we had in public school, with more developed science and art curricula and smaller classes." It's sad we have to shell out $25K/year to replicate that.

It’s particularly sad because I’m from a country where the middle and upper classes really don’t get served by the public school system and so everyone pretty much pays for private. I think it’s a crappy system because a decent education is partially why we pay so much in taxes and it used to be what was so great about America!

we are sad and angry too. MoCo and MCPS, since common core for sure and its general demographic bifurcation and too-big Central Office, are cannibalizing away strong students to other education systems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It’s not that. It’s the fact that they no longer want to keep records. Keeping it off the report card makes it easier to say that kids are all ‘doing fine’. Allows MCPS to get out of providing services for kids who might need services. Allows MCPS to talk about how all the URMS are doing fantastic because there is no data otherwise.

I really, really wish that people would stop referring to "URMS". It's dehumanizing. If you're talking about kids who are black, kids who are Hispanic/Latino, and kids who are poor, then please talk about kids who are black, kids who are Hispanic/Latino, and kids who are poor.

wow, a 4 letter acronym would sure be more efficient than what you wrote.

Yes, it is. And NIMBYs is more efficient than "People who don't want X in their neighborhoods", yet people who don't want X in their neighborhoods object to being called NIMBYs. So maybe efficiency isn't the best standard for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MIRL and these other tests that have been constantly administered are often done incorrectly because teachers have to process so many students in little time. More often than not they just rubber stamp kids to the next level on the achievement escalator. The result is kids who can read higher are often marked lower. This set of standards takes up valuable class time and harms more often than it helps. Overall this is a huge step in the right direction. Consistent standardized tests like MAP-R are signfiicantly more helpful.

Giving a student a running record (MIRL) doesn't take that long. In fact, you can do a couple of kids from each reading group daily and easily be done by the end of the month to input the data. It's the data entry that was a killer. I agree that MAPs provide a great deal of information. I sure wish the curriculum aligned better with the questions asked of students on MAP testing. K to 2 will be giving kids the MAP-RF test for the first time this year. They have to give it the same months as mClass so that's quite a bit of testing for 5 to 8 year olds. I'm thinking they might be phasing out mClass in the future and replace it with MAP-RF since it's completely computer scored and doesn't require sub time for a teacher to complete.

That would be an improvement. mClass takes so much time and it just isn't possible to be thorough. They typically base it on a single story for a level instead of several and teachers being human aren't as consistent in their methods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents with higher achieving students have just about had it with the dumbing down. Mcps will eventually see more and more higher achieving students pulled out. If more reasonably priced private schools or education co-ops existed, I'd pull both of my kids out immediately.

That's exactly why we're sending our kid to a private school this year. We can't afford the $40K/year schools without seriously jeopardizing retirement and college savings, but we can swing $25K. When we toured it, we looked at each other and said "this is a lovely school, but it almost seems like what we had in public school, with more developed science and art curricula and smaller classes." It's sad we have to shell out $25K/year to replicate that.

It’s particularly sad because I’m from a country where the middle and upper classes really don’t get served by the public school system and so everyone pretty much pays for private. I think it’s a crappy system because a decent education is partially why we pay so much in taxes and it used to be what was so great about America!

Can we please have some perspective here? People on DCUM post as though MCPS were comparable to Ritchie County Public Schools.

http://www.ritchieschools.com/

I don’t know anything about the schools in WV, but I think in general, the public school system in this country has gone downhill. I have friends and families who have been teachers for decades and they will all tell you that our public education system is in trouble.

I am a child of immigrants and I would not be where I am if it were not for the public school system. 100%. My parents couldn’t do anything with me, so I was dependent on fantastic teachers and a good curriculum.

I am not seeing that at my kids’ ES. At all. We do still have awesome teachers, but the curriculum is terrible and there are SO many gaps! The lack of textbooks and over-reliance on Chromebooks are probably my biggest complaints. But the lack of any organized curriculum is a huge problem.

agree, we were just back home in another part of the USA and both I and my parents and my brother all agreed that we would not have gone to the public school there as it stands today. No Child Left Behind annihilated all the arts, music, PE programs, plus good teachers retired early. The sheer amount of tracking testing went from one fed test every three yeras to every year plus district annual testing. only in math and reading, which is the only real subject matter for K-5. Rest of things fall by the wayside - social studies, sciences, foreign language, art/gym.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents with higher achieving students have just about had it with the dumbing down. Mcps will eventually see more and more higher achieving students pulled out. If more reasonably priced private schools or education co-ops existed, I'd pull both of my kids out immediately.

How is expecting kids to be 1 to 2 grades above grade level dumbing things down?

It’s not that. It’s the fact that they no longer want to keep records. Keeping it off the report card makes it easier to say that kids are all ‘doing fine’. Allows MCPS to get out of providing services for kids who might need services. Allows MCPS to talk about how all the URMS are doing fantastic because there is no data otherwise.

same concept as then they ceased final exams in HS.
And stopped issueing B+s or A- so everyone's final grade rounds up to an A in HS.

all smoke and mirrors, and has the top half of the class scrambling to differentiate themselves, since their hard work getting a 95% correct is an A just like the 86%'er kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's great for a kid like mine who the teachers underestimate and could be more challenged but MCPS does such a poor just with reading comprehension and reading disorders how would that work for a child who is still struggling. Sounds like another bad MCPS plan.

Yup. Mcps sucks. Sure some big wig got a bonus for yet another stupid idea that gives kids a raw deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Side question: why can’t we just reject common core, like MA and VA?

Common core is fine - it is a set of standards. Curriculum 2.0, which is MCPS, is the issue.

No, signing up for common core in order to get annual grant money is what DRIVES central office to teach to the bottom. What's the mathematically easiest way to get an average proficiency score up? Get the low hanging fruit at 2 grade levels under their age to get their scores from 50% accurate to 70% accurate, not challenge the strong kids at 97% accurate to get to 99% or do more levels.

TYING MONEY TO COMMON CORE TEST SCORES IS THE DOWNFALL OF MARYLAND FEDERALIZING ITS PUBLIC SCHOOLS. and what better hook than money to bloat one's public school budget and make central office act like a crack addict to get the funding each year. Children being taught to potential and teachers having the flexibility to adapt to their classrooms' skill sis not the priority: tests scores and federal money is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents with higher achieving students have just about had it with the dumbing down. Mcps will eventually see more and more higher achieving students pulled out. If more reasonably priced private schools or education co-ops existed, I'd pull both of my kids out immediately.

How is expecting kids to be 1 to 2 grades above grade level dumbing things down?

It’s not that. It’s the fact that they no longer want to keep records. Keeping it off the report card makes it easier to say that kids are all ‘doing fine’. Allows MCPS to get out of providing services for kids who might need services. Allows MCPS to talk about how all the URMS are doing fantastic because there is no data otherwise.

same concept as then they ceased final exams in HS.
And stopped issueing B+s or A- so everyone's final grade rounds up to an A in HS.

all smoke and mirrors, and has the top half of the class scrambling to differentiate themselves, since their hard work getting a 95% correct is an A just like the 86%'er kid.

No, it’s not equivalent at all. Kids learn to read by third and read to learn third grade and beyond. This is just another way to sweep LDs under the rug. Mcps doesn’t use evidence based techniques or curriculum to address dyslexia even though 1 in 5 people have some form of it.

People who have means will tutor or do private school. If people try to fight the system, they will be crushed by MCPS lawyers and this just makes it easier.

[Anonymous]

in addition to the sorry @$$ C2.0.

Most school districts that rec'd common core standards mandate just tweaked their existing NCLB curriculum.

MCPS on the other hand, when bananas and paid itself millions to half-@$$ a K-8 math and english curriculum. which got complaints from teachers, students and parents since it rolled out in 2011/12.