Is EEK (early entrance to kindergarten) getting harder?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are overcrowded, yes they will be more strict. It sucks but I recommend that you fight for it. The curriculum is so ridiculously slow and my child (an Aug birthday) is bored out of her mind.

I truly do not understand this. What is too slow? If the child is a precocious reader, is she not allowed to read at her level? In math, there are things like "make an addition fact family". That can be using 5+2=7 or 326+408=734. Right?

My child is in the middle of 1st grade and the furthest they have gotten is adding/subtracting up to the sum of 6. She did that in preschool. They have not learned any time, money, fractions or simple geometry yet. It is all VERY basic adding/subtracting with number lines, groups etc.... It is extremely slow. My oldest was actually EEK in Sept and at that point they had math levels so she was in K and then moved to math2 in grade 1. So she was adding/subtracting into the thousands and doing fractions and some geometry. Time and money was taught in K. She finished 5th doing Math 7 and moved right to Algebra 1 in 6th grade. They no longer have those options. ALL kids learn math at the same pace in MCPS until grade 4-5 when they can possibly go into compact math.

As far as reading, they do not encourage you to read past certain levels. So my 1st grade daughter already hit the end of 2nd grade reading level at M and is not allowed to advance past that until 2nd grade. Whereas my other daughter's reading group kept going and going and they even moved kids around in groups to keep them accelerating. 2.0 is about learning the basics. It helps kids that have had no prior learning but it seriously hinders kids that learned in preschool and learn at home.

That's how my child's first grade was too. Very frustrating!

[Anonymous]

I have a fall bday kid and did not even try EEK. K-3 was frustrating. Started w the magnets in 4th and its been great. Heading to MS now and I am beyond glad with our decision. I would rather some boredom here and there versus having him have to grow up too quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a fall bday kid and did not even try EEK. K-3 was frustrating. Started w the magnets in 4th and its been great. Heading to MS now and I am beyond glad with our decision. I would rather some boredom here and there versus having him have to grow up too quickly.

How are they growing up too quickly? So, basically you dumb down your kid to meet your needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see how EEK would make a school more overcrowded. You are either going now or a year from now.

It's a year to year thing. If your school is close to reaching the maximum number of kids allowed per classroom, and letting in a couple of EEK kids would make the school open a new classroom, then it is to MCPS 's advantage to no allow the EEK kid in because of the costs of running an additional classroom, including an additional teacher.

Also, once your highly overqualified almost 6 y.o. gets to K, MCPS can evaluate that child by observation and recommend him to be moved to 1st grade, thereby eliminating one year that child will be in the MCPS system.

Our Sept child didn't get into EEK. She is at least as qualified as her older sister was when she entered K several years ago. Our school is close to max on the number of K kids, and about 4-5 more would mean another classroom. So, if my kid were allowed in, the K teachers would have an unmanageable number of students or MCPS would have to open another classroom with all the additional costs thereof. Why would they want a student they don't have to take?

I think I may request a meeting with the principal to find out about the scores. I am curious. In the meantime, I have found a private K for her.

Agree with the other PP that I would definitely request a meeting.

The whole EEK process is ridiculous. We're at a FOCUS school where kids come into K barely speaking English (no judgment, just an observation), and my neighbor's DD did not get in to EEK last year. Additionally, they test these kids in April, but they don't start school until 5 months later. At that age, so much can change in 5 months!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The test isn't stsndardized. Huge problem. The difficulty depends on where your child tests. It's totally ridiculous that a system as huge as Mcps hasn't figured this out.

Do you mean that each schools is administering a different test? I thought there were a standard 7 categories with certain threshold scores. Do you mind sharing your sources?

Can you tell me about the 7 categories? Is this listed on the website? I was searching for this on the MCPS website, but didn't see anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a fall bday kid and did not even try EEK. K-3 was frustrating. Started w the magnets in 4th and its been great. Heading to MS now and I am beyond glad with our decision. I would rather some boredom here and there versus having him have to grow up too quickly.

How are they growing up too quickly? So, basically you dumb down your kid to meet your needs.

Haven't dumbed anything down. He is in the grade he should be based on a cutoff. Single best decision we have made in his schooling hands down (for us).

Clearly when you are a grade ahead you grow up more quickly. Kids get family life class in 5th grade for one, 5th graders are getting cell phones and on all sort of social media. And obviously they head off to college earlier. He gets an extra year to be a kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The test isn't stsndardized. Huge problem. The difficulty depends on where your child tests. It's totally ridiculous that a system as huge as Mcps hasn't figured this out.

Do you mean that each schools is administering a different test? I thought there were a standard 7 categories with certain threshold scores. Do you mind sharing your sources?

Can you tell me about the 7 categories? Is this listed on the website? I was searching for this on the MCPS website, but didn't see anything.

I'll admit to looking around for this info last year for my child, and gathered the following by looking at appeals online. I don't know how accurate it is, but I found reference to: (1) "record of oral language" which I think asks kids to listen and repeat sentences; 2) independent tasks with multi-step directions; (3) concepts about print, checking to see if kids know how books work, which direction to start reading, etc.; (4) letter identification; (5) math assessment (don't know what is involved); (6) visual motor skills.

I didn't use this to prep my kid, but it did help me decide whether I thought my kid could pass the assessment and whether it was worth doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a fall bday kid and did not even try EEK. K-3 was frustrating. Started w the magnets in 4th and its been great. Heading to MS now and I am beyond glad with our decision. I would rather some boredom here and there versus having him have to grow up too quickly.

How are they growing up too quickly? So, basically you dumb down your kid to meet your needs.

Haven't dumbed anything down. He is in the grade he should be based on a cutoff. Single best decision we have made in his schooling hands down (for us).

Clearly when you are a grade ahead you grow up more quickly. Kids get family life class in 5th grade for one, 5th graders are getting cell phones and on all sort of social media. And obviously they head off to college earlier. He gets an extra year to be a kid.

I am not getting the issue. I have a September kid who I went ahead and he'll have a cell phone earlier than 5th most likely as its for my need, not his. If my kid was allowed to have one now, he'd have it at school. You just don't give him the download passcode and put major restrictions on it. He already is asking questions about 6 regarding family life - who cares where it came from but I'm glad he's coming to us first. You cannot protect kids forever and I'm a very protective parent. Holding them back does not protect them, parenting does. When you keep them behind, they act much younger based on the younger age group they are with vs. their peers which indirectly makes them less mature because of the situation they are placed in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see how EEK would make a school more overcrowded. You are either going now or a year from now.

It's a year to year thing. If your school is close to reaching the maximum number of kids allowed per classroom, and letting in a couple of EEK kids would make the school open a new classroom, then it is to MCPS 's advantage to no allow the EEK kid in because of the costs of running an additional classroom, including an additional teacher.

Also, once your highly overqualified almost 6 y.o. gets to K, MCPS can evaluate that child by observation and recommend him to be moved to 1st grade, thereby eliminating one year that child will be in the MCPS system.

Our Sept child didn't get into EEK. She is at least as qualified as her older sister was when she entered K several years ago. Our school is close to max on the number of K kids, and about 4-5 more would mean another classroom. So, if my kid were allowed in, the K teachers would have an unmanageable number of students or MCPS would have to open another classroom with all the additional costs thereof. Why would they want a student they don't have to take?

I think I may request a meeting with the principal to find out about the scores. I am curious. In the meantime, I have found a private K for her.

Agree with the other PP that I would definitely request a meeting.

The whole EEK process is ridiculous. We're at a FOCUS school where kids come into K barely speaking English (no judgment, just an observation), and my neighbor's DD did not get in to EEK last year. Additionally, they test these kids in April, but they don't start school until 5 months later. At that age, so much can change in 5 months!

My child changed a lot between that summer so we went the private route. It is unfair to hold a child back who is reading, knows their colors, numbers and basics when many kids, some a year older do not know the alphabet.

[Anonymous]

EEK exam is ridiculous. They don't accept anybody anymore, even children who are reading and writing. The state makes MCPS have it as an option, but it is a false one. MCPS does not want children to get in anymore, unlike several years ago, where some children did get in. There is enough discretion that a teacher can just have the child barely get under the threshold in one area so that she fails. And the parents can't do anything about it because they weren't able to attend to dispute it. After all, the kid missed by just one question on just one section--the school can just say "kid must have had an off day, not our fault."

There is zero transparency in the process. The only way to even get more info is to request a meeting with the principal.

[Anonymous]

Meanwhile in my summer bday boys's class he is 3 months younger than the next youngest boy. There is one boy who turned 7 a few months back! It's craziness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:EEK exam is ridiculous. They don't accept anybody anymore, even children who are reading and writing. The state makes MCPS have it as an option, but it is a false one. MCPS does not want children to get in anymore, unlike several years ago, where some children did get in. There is enough discretion that a teacher can just have the child barely get under the threshold in one area so that she fails. And the parents can't do anything about it because they weren't able to attend to dispute it. After all, the kid missed by just one question on just one section--the school can just say "kid must have had an off day, not our fault."

There is zero transparency in the process. The only way to even get more info is to request a meeting with the principal.

Do you know of any statistics on EEK acceptance rates to back this up? If your opinion is based on anecdotes only, then here are some more -- two of the three kids who applied to EEK at my kids' school got in last year (including my child), and another kid from our preschool was accepted EEK at a different school. So children are still getting in.

Have the policies and acceptance criteria changed over the years? I'm the PP who looked for appeal info online to get an understanding of the EEK test, and the info I saw went back about 10 years and listed similar subtests and the requirement to pass each section. I would love to know if it's actually harder to get in now or if there is data showing differences in acceptance at different schools. Or perhaps this is the problem you were pointing out about a lack of transparency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see how EEK would make a school more overcrowded. You are either going now or a year from now.

It's a year to year thing. If your school is close to reaching the maximum number of kids allowed per classroom, and letting in a couple of EEK kids would make the school open a new classroom, then it is to MCPS 's advantage to no allow the EEK kid in because of the costs of running an additional classroom, including an additional teacher.

Also, once your highly overqualified almost 6 y.o. gets to K, MCPS can evaluate that child by observation and recommend him to be moved to 1st grade, thereby eliminating one year that child will be in the MCPS system.

Our Sept child didn't get into EEK. She is at least as qualified as her older sister was when she entered K several years ago. Our school is close to max on the number of K kids, and about 4-5 more would mean another classroom. So, if my kid were allowed in, the K teachers would have an unmanageable number of students or MCPS would have to open another classroom with all the additional costs thereof. Why would they want a student they don't have to take?

I think I may request a meeting with the principal to find out about the scores. I am curious. In the meantime, I have found a private K for her.

Agree with the other PP that I would definitely request a meeting.

The whole EEK process is ridiculous. We're at a FOCUS school where kids come into K barely speaking English (no judgment, just an observation), and my neighbor's DD did not get in to EEK last year. Additionally, they test these kids in April, but they don't start school until 5 months later. At that age, so much can change in 5 months!

It looks like you could in theory choose to have the main office evaluate your kids, as long as you apply before June 30. Worth doing that instead so that your kids has an extra few months?

"If a parent/guardian does not apply for early entrance to kindergarten for their child in time to attend the kindergarten orientation session at the child's home school, the application should be presented to the Elementary Integrated Curriculum Team (EIC) before the June 30 application deadline. EIC staff will contact the parent/guardian to schedule an screening assessment session for the child." http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/dtecps/earlychildhood/early-entrance.aspx

[Anonymous]

Maybe Dr Li should start some EEK prep classes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see how EEK would make a school more overcrowded. You are either going now or a year from now.

It's a year to year thing. If your school is close to reaching the maximum number of kids allowed per classroom, and letting in a couple of EEK kids would make the school open a new classroom, then it is to MCPS 's advantage to no allow the EEK kid in because of the costs of running an additional classroom, including an additional teacher.

Also, once your highly overqualified almost 6 y.o. gets to K, MCPS can evaluate that child by observation and recommend him to be moved to 1st grade, thereby eliminating one year that child will be in the MCPS system.

Our Sept child didn't get into EEK. She is at least as qualified as her older sister was when she entered K several years ago. Our school is close to max on the number of K kids, and about 4-5 more would mean another classroom. So, if my kid were allowed in, the K teachers would have an unmanageable number of students or MCPS would have to open another classroom with all the additional costs thereof. Why would they want a student they don't have to take?

I think I may request a meeting with the principal to find out about the scores. I am curious. In the meantime, I have found a private K for her.

Agree with the other PP that I would definitely request a meeting.

The whole EEK process is ridiculous. We're at a FOCUS school where kids come into K barely speaking English (no judgment, just an observation), and my neighbor's DD did not get in to EEK last year. Additionally, they test these kids in April, but they don't start school until 5 months later. At that age, so much can change in 5 months!

It looks like you could in theory choose to have the main office evaluate your kids, as long as you apply before June 30. Worth doing that instead so that your kids has an extra few months?

"If a parent/guardian does not apply for early entrance to kindergarten for their child in time to attend the kindergarten orientation session at the child's home school, the application should be presented to the Elementary Integrated Curriculum Team (EIC) before the June 30 application deadline. EIC staff will contact the parent/guardian to schedule an screening assessment session for the child." http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/dtecps/earlychildhood/early-entrance.aspx

I saw this on the website and was considering that for DS next year. Has anyone tried that? Are they schools willing to schedule this? Plus, I bet it's somewhat less overwhelming for the kids, since our ES evaluates kids for EEK during the regular K orientation when there are tons of people around, and the halls are all loud and chaotic.

Even the two month difference between April and June can make a difference at that age.