Looks like ELC is gone

[Anonymous]

I asked my school and they said that they are piloting CKLA+ enrichment and will make a decision on next year in the spring.

For me the biggest issue is the cohorting. It’s not just the curriculum but the ability to move quickly with similarly able peers…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I asked my school and they said that they are piloting CKLA+ enrichment and will make a decision on next year in the spring.

For me the biggest issue is the cohorting. It’s not just the curriculum but the ability to move quickly with similarly able peers…

What’s the enrichment? How often is the enrichment and for how long? What are going to be the determining factors between ELC vs CKLA+enrichment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I asked my school and they said that they are piloting CKLA+ enrichment and will make a decision on next year in the spring.

For me the biggest issue is the cohorting. It’s not just the curriculum but the ability to move quickly with similarly able peers…

Could you tell from your conversation what they are being told by central office? Like, are all schools being told "you can choose between ELC or CKLA enrichment"? Was that the decision they were referring to making?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unpopular opinion. The ELC is based in the old strategies of reading instruction such as Lucy Calkins. An improved enriched ELA curriculum could be based in CKLA, be far more effective, and have students working on gaining similar knowledge across the board.

The ELC curriculum has had intensive writing experiences but it has not had any emphasis on reading complex non-fiction texts, or even complex fiction texts for that matter.

parent of a student who has been in an ELC in 4th and 5th and a rising 4th grader who qualifies.

I'm not opposed to them exploring changes to the curriculum. What I'm opposed to is going from a fully-enriched ELA block with a cohort of similar peers, to a "spend your ELA block with a teacher who's spending most of their time trying to help below-grade level students, and we'll maybe give you some enrichment during WIN time" experience.

This 💯 We have so many students that are below grade level and reading. This is 100% what would happen at our school. The students who need the most help will either have intervention or small groups with the teacher, and the students who are on grade level or above are given independent work. I am a reading intervention teacher at MCPS who advocates for all children to be taught (and challenged) at their level!

[Anonymous]

^^ should have written below grade level in reading (and often 2 to 3 grades below current level).

[Anonymous]

The cohorting is my biggest concern. I like CKLA so far but my kid could really benefit from being in a cohort with students ready and able to go deeper more quickly. Doing away with cohorting is going to be incredibly detrimental. Just having a weekly 20 minute “enrichment” doesn’t do it…

[Anonymous]

I agree! I also like CKLA and the 20 minute WIN time helps but the classroom peers are a huge distraction due to behaviors and not being on the same level. I know compacted math next year will be good for my DC. Currently the teacher has her helping other kids that are struggling.

I haven't talked yet to the school about what their plan is for next year in terms of ELC but I plan on doing it.

Anonymous wrote:The cohorting is my biggest concern. I like CKLA so far but my kid could really benefit from being in a cohort with students ready and able to go deeper more quickly. Doing away with cohorting is going to be incredibly detrimental. Just having a weekly 20 minute “enrichment” doesn’t do it…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What this thread sounds like is speculation and someone stirring the pot. CO has not said that ELC is going away. All they ever said last year was that they would evaluate this year IF CKLA could be used as a replacement or supplement for advanced learners in ES. They acknowledged that it was an on-grade level curriculum.

So before folks get up in arms that ELC is going away, first speak with your school staff (Principal and Reading Specialist) about what they are hearing and thinking for next year? Explicitly ask what they are doing currently with ELC (especially if you’re a 3rd grade parent), vs CKLA 4th&5th. If your school is doing the CKLA+ pilot, ask what that entails and looks like implementation wise and ask what differences (positive and negative) have been noticed for students with setup vs ELC.

Be willing to wait for feedback in February as teachers and staff are trying to complete Winter testing and get through missed content and things in order to wrap up the quarter and semester. In fact that is another question to ask for CKLA+ pilot schools: Has anyone compare midterm progress of last years ELC students to midterm progress of the CKLA+ pilot students? Do we have teacher, student, parent feedback thus far with regards to CKLa+?

Spoken like a central office staffer who does not want parents to advocate to keep ELC.

Central office won’t announce anything until it’s a done deal, and it’s too late for parents to do anything about it.

Where did anyone say don’t advocate for ELC??? In fact the entire post was about figuring out what your ES school knows and are thinking in regards to the program/curriculum. If you’re going to make a case to keep ELC you should be armed with accurate information about its implementation and benefits over the CKLA+ curriculum and implementation. Speculating on DCUM is unhelpful. Talking to you ES school staff show interest and raises questions and attention.

I did talk to my school. They said “what are you talking about?” But I have no faith there won’t be a switch around later.

I’m this PP. Now we are hearing that ELC may in fact be gone and there will not be any equivalent enriched class. I am beyond frustrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What this thread sounds like is speculation and someone stirring the pot. CO has not said that ELC is going away. All they ever said last year was that they would evaluate this year IF CKLA could be used as a replacement or supplement for advanced learners in ES. They acknowledged that it was an on-grade level curriculum.

So before folks get up in arms that ELC is going away, first speak with your school staff (Principal and Reading Specialist) about what they are hearing and thinking for next year? Explicitly ask what they are doing currently with ELC (especially if you’re a 3rd grade parent), vs CKLA 4th&5th. If your school is doing the CKLA+ pilot, ask what that entails and looks like implementation wise and ask what differences (positive and negative) have been noticed for students with setup vs ELC.

Be willing to wait for feedback in February as teachers and staff are trying to complete Winter testing and get through missed content and things in order to wrap up the quarter and semester. In fact that is another question to ask for CKLA+ pilot schools: Has anyone compare midterm progress of last years ELC students to midterm progress of the CKLA+ pilot students? Do we have teacher, student, parent feedback thus far with regards to CKLa+?

Spoken like a central office staffer who does not want parents to advocate to keep ELC.

Central office won’t announce anything until it’s a done deal, and it’s too late for parents to do anything about it.

Where did anyone say don’t advocate for ELC??? In fact the entire post was about figuring out what your ES school knows and are thinking in regards to the program/curriculum. If you’re going to make a case to keep ELC you should be armed with accurate information about its implementation and benefits over the CKLA+ curriculum and implementation. Speculating on DCUM is unhelpful. Talking to you ES school staff show interest and raises questions and attention.

I did talk to my school. They said “what are you talking about?” But I have no faith there won’t be a switch around later.

I’m this PP. Now we are hearing that ELC may in fact be gone and there will not be any equivalent enriched class. I am beyond frustrated.

I would call AEI on Monday. To get some clarity on what central office is saying. The key is to find out whether schools are required to cohort advanced students together in a separate class. If they have a CKLA-based updated curriculum, that to me seems ok
as long as it remains a separate class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree! I also like CKLA and the 20 minute WIN time helps but the classroom peers are a huge distraction due to behaviors and not being on the same level. I know compacted math next year will be good for my DC. Currently the teacher has her helping other kids that are struggling.

I haven't talked yet to the school about what their plan is for next year in terms of ELC but I plan on doing it.

Anonymous wrote:The cohorting is my biggest concern. I like CKLA so far but my kid could really benefit from being in a cohort with students ready and able to go deeper more quickly. Doing away with cohorting is going to be incredibly detrimental. Just having a weekly 20 minute “enrichment” doesn’t do it…

Consider asking them in a public setting like a PTA meeting and then ask for clarification when they say "We will be moving to an exciting new curriculum with enrichment for highly able students."

Ask them what the enrichment consists of exactly.

Ask them how it compares to ELC.

Ask them whether the enrichment class will be cohorted together.

Maybe bring some friends and split up the questions between you. The only way you are going to get straight answers is to ask, then ask for clarification, then keep asking. You are going to need to be pushier than you are used to being.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What this thread sounds like is speculation and someone stirring the pot. CO has not said that ELC is going away. All they ever said last year was that they would evaluate this year IF CKLA could be used as a replacement or supplement for advanced learners in ES. They acknowledged that it was an on-grade level curriculum.

So before folks get up in arms that ELC is going away, first speak with your school staff (Principal and Reading Specialist) about what they are hearing and thinking for next year? Explicitly ask what they are doing currently with ELC (especially if you’re a 3rd grade parent), vs CKLA 4th&5th. If your school is doing the CKLA+ pilot, ask what that entails and looks like implementation wise and ask what differences (positive and negative) have been noticed for students with setup vs ELC.

Be willing to wait for feedback in February as teachers and staff are trying to complete Winter testing and get through missed content and things in order to wrap up the quarter and semester. In fact that is another question to ask for CKLA+ pilot schools: Has anyone compare midterm progress of last years ELC students to midterm progress of the CKLA+ pilot students? Do we have teacher, student, parent feedback thus far with regards to CKLa+?

Spoken like a central office staffer who does not want parents to advocate to keep ELC.

Central office won’t announce anything until it’s a done deal, and it’s too late for parents to do anything about it.

Where did anyone say don’t advocate for ELC??? In fact the entire post was about figuring out what your ES school knows and are thinking in regards to the program/curriculum. If you’re going to make a case to keep ELC you should be armed with accurate information about its implementation and benefits over the CKLA+ curriculum and implementation. Speculating on DCUM is unhelpful. Talking to you ES school staff show interest and raises questions and attention.

I did talk to my school. They said “what are you talking about?” But I have no faith there won’t be a switch around later.

I’m this PP. Now we are hearing that ELC may in fact be gone and there will not be any equivalent enriched class. I am beyond frustrated.

I would call AEI on Monday. To get some clarity on what central office is saying. The key is to find out whether schools are required to cohort advanced students together in a separate class. If they have a CKLA-based updated curriculum, that to me seems ok
as long as it remains a separate class.

I agree with this to some extent, although it’s stupid and pointless when the ELC curriculum is strong and teachers already know it. It seems like a lot of work to switch when this is one of the few things that seems to be going well in MCPS!!

[Anonymous]

Every child deserves ELC.

MCPS has devolved to such an embarrassing place precisely because they continue to lower the bar rather than raise it.

Students are suffering.

Demand better for our students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What this thread sounds like is speculation and someone stirring the pot. CO has not said that ELC is going away. All they ever said last year was that they would evaluate this year IF CKLA could be used as a replacement or supplement for advanced learners in ES. They acknowledged that it was an on-grade level curriculum.

So before folks get up in arms that ELC is going away, first speak with your school staff (Principal and Reading Specialist) about what they are hearing and thinking for next year? Explicitly ask what they are doing currently with ELC (especially if you’re a 3rd grade parent), vs CKLA 4th&5th. If your school is doing the CKLA+ pilot, ask what that entails and looks like implementation wise and ask what differences (positive and negative) have been noticed for students with setup vs ELC.

Be willing to wait for feedback in February as teachers and staff are trying to complete Winter testing and get through missed content and things in order to wrap up the quarter and semester. In fact that is another question to ask for CKLA+ pilot schools: Has anyone compare midterm progress of last years ELC students to midterm progress of the CKLA+ pilot students? Do we have teacher, student, parent feedback thus far with regards to CKLa+?

Spoken like a central office staffer who does not want parents to advocate to keep ELC.

Central office won’t announce anything until it’s a done deal, and it’s too late for parents to do anything about it.

Where did anyone say don’t advocate for ELC??? In fact the entire post was about figuring out what your ES school knows and are thinking in regards to the program/curriculum. If you’re going to make a case to keep ELC you should be armed with accurate information about its implementation and benefits over the CKLA+ curriculum and implementation. Speculating on DCUM is unhelpful. Talking to you ES school staff show interest and raises questions and attention.

I did talk to my school. They said “what are you talking about?” But I have no faith there won’t be a switch around later.

I’m this PP. Now we are hearing that ELC may in fact be gone and there will not be any equivalent enriched class. I am beyond frustrated.

I would call AEI on Monday. To get some clarity on what central office is saying. The key is to find out whether schools are required to cohort advanced students together in a separate class. If they have a CKLA-based updated curriculum, that to me seems ok
as long as it remains a separate class.

I agree with this to some extent, although it’s stupid and pointless when the ELC curriculum is strong and teachers already know it. It seems like a lot of work to switch when this is one of the few things that seems to be going well in MCPS!!

The ELC curriculum has some real problems and does not align with state standards. That’s really why they are moving away from it. You need to seriously question any curriculum made in-house by MCPS.

CKLA is strong, covering all the required standards. It can be accelerated to either add time for other enrichments (like William and Mary) or to cover all the CKLA units rather than picking and choosing among them. But that can only happen with a cohorted class that can move quickly and skip the scaffolds in CKLA for those who need support.

So to me, the key question is whether central office will require schools to offer a separate class for students ready for acceleration, or whether they will let them offer it in groups ins mixed-abilities class. If there are enough students who qualify to create a class, they should be required to offer a cohorted section, as is the case with compacted math

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What this thread sounds like is speculation and someone stirring the pot. CO has not said that ELC is going away. All they ever said last year was that they would evaluate this year IF CKLA could be used as a replacement or supplement for advanced learners in ES. They acknowledged that it was an on-grade level curriculum.

So before folks get up in arms that ELC is going away, first speak with your school staff (Principal and Reading Specialist) about what they are hearing and thinking for next year? Explicitly ask what they are doing currently with ELC (especially if you’re a 3rd grade parent), vs CKLA 4th&5th. If your school is doing the CKLA+ pilot, ask what that entails and looks like implementation wise and ask what differences (positive and negative) have been noticed for students with setup vs ELC.

Be willing to wait for feedback in February as teachers and staff are trying to complete Winter testing and get through missed content and things in order to wrap up the quarter and semester. In fact that is another question to ask for CKLA+ pilot schools: Has anyone compare midterm progress of last years ELC students to midterm progress of the CKLA+ pilot students? Do we have teacher, student, parent feedback thus far with regards to CKLa+?

Spoken like a central office staffer who does not want parents to advocate to keep ELC.

Central office won’t announce anything until it’s a done deal, and it’s too late for parents to do anything about it.

Where did anyone say don’t advocate for ELC??? In fact the entire post was about figuring out what your ES school knows and are thinking in regards to the program/curriculum. If you’re going to make a case to keep ELC you should be armed with accurate information about its implementation and benefits over the CKLA+ curriculum and implementation. Speculating on DCUM is unhelpful. Talking to you ES school staff show interest and raises questions and attention.

I did talk to my school. They said “what are you talking about?” But I have no faith there won’t be a switch around later.

I’m this PP. Now we are hearing that ELC may in fact be gone and there will not be any equivalent enriched class. I am beyond frustrated.

I would call AEI on Monday. To get some clarity on what central office is saying. The key is to find out whether schools are required to cohort advanced students together in a separate class. If they have a CKLA-based updated curriculum, that to me seems ok
as long as it remains a separate class.

I agree with this to some extent, although it’s stupid and pointless when the ELC curriculum is strong and teachers already know it. It seems like a lot of work to switch when this is one of the few things that seems to be going well in MCPS!!

The ELC curriculum has some real problems and does not align with state standards. That’s really why they are moving away from it. You need to seriously question any curriculum made in-house by MCPS.

CKLA is strong, covering all the required standards. It can be accelerated to either add time for other enrichments (like William and Mary) or to cover all the CKLA units rather than picking and choosing among them. But that can only happen with a cohorted class that can move quickly and skip the scaffolds in CKLA for those who need support.

So to me, the key question is whether central office will require schools to offer a separate class for students ready for acceleration, or whether they will let them offer it in groups ins mixed-abilities class. If there are enough students who qualify to create a class, they should be required to offer a cohorted section, as is the case with compacted math

I thought ELC had a lot more novels than CKLA (which I think has 1 a year or something like that)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What this thread sounds like is speculation and someone stirring the pot. CO has not said that ELC is going away. All they ever said last year was that they would evaluate this year IF CKLA could be used as a replacement or supplement for advanced learners in ES. They acknowledged that it was an on-grade level curriculum.

So before folks get up in arms that ELC is going away, first speak with your school staff (Principal and Reading Specialist) about what they are hearing and thinking for next year? Explicitly ask what they are doing currently with ELC (especially if you’re a 3rd grade parent), vs CKLA 4th&5th. If your school is doing the CKLA+ pilot, ask what that entails and looks like implementation wise and ask what differences (positive and negative) have been noticed for students with setup vs ELC.

Be willing to wait for feedback in February as teachers and staff are trying to complete Winter testing and get through missed content and things in order to wrap up the quarter and semester. In fact that is another question to ask for CKLA+ pilot schools: Has anyone compare midterm progress of last years ELC students to midterm progress of the CKLA+ pilot students? Do we have teacher, student, parent feedback thus far with regards to CKLa+?

Spoken like a central office staffer who does not want parents to advocate to keep ELC.

Central office won’t announce anything until it’s a done deal, and it’s too late for parents to do anything about it.

Where did anyone say don’t advocate for ELC??? In fact the entire post was about figuring out what your ES school knows and are thinking in regards to the program/curriculum. If you’re going to make a case to keep ELC you should be armed with accurate information about its implementation and benefits over the CKLA+ curriculum and implementation. Speculating on DCUM is unhelpful. Talking to you ES school staff show interest and raises questions and attention.

I did talk to my school. They said “what are you talking about?” But I have no faith there won’t be a switch around later.

I’m this PP. Now we are hearing that ELC may in fact be gone and there will not be any equivalent enriched class. I am beyond frustrated.

I would call AEI on Monday. To get some clarity on what central office is saying. The key is to find out whether schools are required to cohort advanced students together in a separate class. If they have a CKLA-based updated curriculum, that to me seems ok
as long as it remains a separate class.

I agree with this to some extent, although it’s stupid and pointless when the ELC curriculum is strong and teachers already know it. It seems like a lot of work to switch when this is one of the few things that seems to be going well in MCPS!!

The ELC curriculum has some real problems and does not align with state standards. That’s really why they are moving away from it. You need to seriously question any curriculum made in-house by MCPS.

CKLA is strong, covering all the required standards. It can be accelerated to either add time for other enrichments (like William and Mary) or to cover all the CKLA units rather than picking and choosing among them. But that can only happen with a cohorted class that can move quickly and skip the scaffolds in CKLA for those who need support.

So to me, the key question is whether central office will require schools to offer a separate class for students ready for acceleration, or whether they will let them offer it in groups ins mixed-abilities class. If there are enough students who qualify to create a class, they should be required to offer a cohorted section, as is the case with compacted math

I thought ELC had a lot more novels than CKLA (which I think has 1 a year or something like that)?

ELC has a lot more novels and writing, but its implementation seems to be very school and teacher dependent. Ideally a really strong teacher should be over it. Peer group is a key as it requires kids ready to tackle harder books or on level books more quickly and with greater depth.
It will not be done right in a group within a class unless that class has help, because there will not be proper time.