APS Lucy Calkins- how does this happen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My APS ES kid has phonics instruction every day. I'm not sure about in K because it was just a "language arts" block, but in 1st had both phonemic awareness and phonics, and in 2nd phonics. DC is a strong reader so admittedly haven't paid much attention, but now I'm curious if it's not really phonics, or if there are differences between schools?

It varies with the school. Most APS schools choose Calkin but there are a few that don’t.

Mi thought all of APS switched. We are at nottingham and they are using Orrin Gilligham this year thank goodness. Mynolder kids has one heck of a time leading to read, and one is still struggling.

No, Nottingham isn’t using Orton-Gillingham school wide this year in classroom-sized groups. OG is not a tier 1 program at any APS school. Some schools previously (in the past 2 years) started using Lucy Calkins Phonics in grades 1-2 which is better than the reading and writing curriculum in that it does include phonics. A few schools are using fundations in primary grades but only a few, I know ATS and Barcroft have used it. Some other schools use Fundations and Wilson as an intervention program and all K-1 uses heggerty Phonemic awareness drills as well. There has been a big switch this year to structured literacy and to using Lexia for all students in elementary. OG is a small group or 1:1 intervention so tier 2 or 3 in ATSS or also in special education services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really wish this thread hadn’t become so nasty. We (parents and teachers) don’t need to attack one another. I’m really disappointed in both sides right now. We just need to come together and fight the continued use of crappy curricula. We don’t stand a chance of changing things unless we fight this together!!

I’m the OP who started the Spelling and Grammar thread. We definitely need to work together and fight this! The problem is the administration and the school board. Would love it if a journalist picks this up. A lot has been written recently but we need something on local level - with a focus on FCPS, APS, and ACPS.

Contact your education beat reporters. Send them links to research. Pitch a story.
If you google it, there’s been some research showing poor results due to Lucy Calkins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:THEY DO KNOW. You have no idea what teachers have or have not said to their reps and admin about this. We push back/ they don’t care. You have no idea what curriculum *we* have asked for or what modifications we make against policy and with our own money to teach effectively. So quit acting like just because nobody listens to us either that we aren’t doing or saying anything. It’s literally stupid that you all believe teachers have so much control over return to school, curriculum, etc oh yeah but somehow we also stay giving ourselves low salaries with all this power we have.

+1,000,000,000

I believe you. Why are Administrators so devoted to this philosophy? I don’t get it.

Are most teachers in agreement that the curriculum is terrible? If so, how can parents and teachers join forces to change it? I want to help, but don’t know where to start!

If APS cares so much about equity (and they should!), they need to fix the curriculum problem. Low SES kids aren’t getting the tutoring and other supplementation that wealthier kids get. It is making the gap even worse! We need a quality curriculum for ALL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please read “The Knowledge Gap” by Natalie Wexler. Lucy Calkins is HORRIBLE. I can’t believe teachers go along with this.

Omg don’t blame the curriculum a whole district buys and says teachers have to use on the teachers. How much say do you have over how your leadership tells you to do elements of your job?

I’m a nurse and you’d better believe that if my coworkers and I were instructed to do things that consistently led to bad outcomes, we would speak up and demand change.

WTH?? You’re ok with accepting the failing state of education? I seriously have to question your integrity if you’re ok with continuing to operate this way. Jesus.

Calm down Drama Queen. The problem is this is also what’s taught in teaching programs. It’s been reading instruction for a LONG time. A lot of teachers honestly don’t know it’s not “the best” way to teach reading. I don’t teach elementary but you can also stop acting like teachers are killing children by using curriculum they learned on and are told to use by their district. By all means go lobby the district to abandon it and tell them what reading program you prefer.(you don’t know any.)

Well if you consider the illiteracy rates within the prison populations, it isn’t much of a stretch to say that the schools failing to teach kids to read is putting their lives at risk.

Authentic engagement with text is not enough if you can’t read the words.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:THEY DO KNOW. You have no idea what teachers have or have not said to their reps and admin about this. We push back/ they don’t care. You have no idea what curriculum *we* have asked for or what modifications we make against policy and with our own money to teach effectively. So quit acting like just because nobody listens to us either that we aren’t doing or saying anything. It’s literally stupid that you all believe teachers have so much control over return to school, curriculum, etc oh yeah but somehow we also stay giving ourselves low salaries with all this power we have.

+1,000,000,000

I believe you. Why are Administrators so devoted to this philosophy? I don’t get it.

Are most teachers in agreement that the curriculum is terrible? If so, how can parents and teachers join forces to change it? I want to help, but don’t know where to start!

If APS cares so much about equity (and they should!), they need to fix the curriculum problem. Low SES kids aren’t getting the tutoring and other supplementation that wealthier kids get. It is making the gap even worse! We need a quality curriculum for ALL!

This. It’s not fair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:THEY DO KNOW. You have no idea what teachers have or have not said to their reps and admin about this. We push back/ they don’t care. You have no idea what curriculum *we* have asked for or what modifications we make against policy and with our own money to teach effectively. So quit acting like just because nobody listens to us either that we aren’t doing or saying anything. It’s literally stupid that you all believe teachers have so much control over return to school, curriculum, etc oh yeah but somehow we also stay giving ourselves low salaries with all this power we have.

+1,000,000,000

I believe you. Why are Administrators so devoted to this philosophy? I don’t get it.

Are most teachers in agreement that the curriculum is terrible? If so, how can parents and teachers join forces to change it? I want to help, but don’t know where to start!

If APS cares so much about equity (and they should!), they need to fix the curriculum problem. Low SES kids aren’t getting the tutoring and other supplementation that wealthier kids get. It is making the gap even worse! We need a quality curriculum for ALL!

This. It’s not fair.

The first thing that needs to be done in regular classrooms at the early elementary level is to get rid of the kids who can't sit still and behave. Put them in separate classes and stop hiding behind IEPs - They literally take up time that could be used for literacy or any other subject. I don't know how much time is literally wasted because one or more kids consistently distract the rest of the class every day. Parents, you know who you are because these kids obviously live with you and I know of many cases that ate junk food all day, watched tv or played video games for hours at a time, and had very few rules to follow in their life. This is probably the single biggest complaint parents with kids in disruptive classes have and I know of more than a few teachers who couldn't stand these kids either because their parents won't allow teachers to punish them or remove them from the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:THEY DO KNOW. You have no idea what teachers have or have not said to their reps and admin about this. We push back/ they don’t care. You have no idea what curriculum *we* have asked for or what modifications we make against policy and with our own money to teach effectively. So quit acting like just because nobody listens to us either that we aren’t doing or saying anything. It’s literally stupid that you all believe teachers have so much control over return to school, curriculum, etc oh yeah but somehow we also stay giving ourselves low salaries with all this power we have.

+1,000,000,000

I believe you. Why are Administrators so devoted to this philosophy? I don’t get it.

Are most teachers in agreement that the curriculum is terrible? If so, how can parents and teachers join forces to change it? I want to help, but don’t know where to start!

If APS cares so much about equity (and they should!), they need to fix the curriculum problem. Low SES kids aren’t getting the tutoring and other supplementation that wealthier kids get. It is making the gap even worse! We need a quality curriculum for ALL!

This. It’s not fair.

The first thing that needs to be done in regular classrooms at the early elementary level is to get rid of the kids who can't sit still and behave. Put them in separate classes and stop hiding behind IEPs - They literally take up time that could be used for literacy or any other subject. I don't know how much time is literally wasted because one or more kids consistently distract the rest of the class every day. Parents, you know who you are because these kids obviously live with you and I know of many cases that ate junk food all day, watched tv or played video games for hours at a time, and had very few rules to follow in their life. This is probably the single biggest complaint parents with kids in disruptive classes have and I know of more than a few teachers who couldn't stand these kids either because their parents won't allow teachers to punish them or remove them from the class.

Because those kids need an education too.

Next?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:THEY DO KNOW. You have no idea what teachers have or have not said to their reps and admin about this. We push back/ they don’t care. You have no idea what curriculum *we* have asked for or what modifications we make against policy and with our own money to teach effectively. So quit acting like just because nobody listens to us either that we aren’t doing or saying anything. It’s literally stupid that you all believe teachers have so much control over return to school, curriculum, etc oh yeah but somehow we also stay giving ourselves low salaries with all this power we have.

+1,000,000,000

I believe you. Why are Administrators so devoted to this philosophy? I don’t get it.

Are most teachers in agreement that the curriculum is terrible? If so, how can parents and teachers join forces to change it? I want to help, but don’t know where to start!

If APS cares so much about equity (and they should!), they need to fix the curriculum problem. Low SES kids aren’t getting the tutoring and other supplementation that wealthier kids get. It is making the gap even worse! We need a quality curriculum for ALL!

This. It’s not fair.

The first thing that needs to be done in regular classrooms at the early elementary level is to get rid of the kids who can't sit still and behave. Put them in separate classes and stop hiding behind IEPs - They literally take up time that could be used for literacy or any other subject. I don't know how much time is literally wasted because one or more kids consistently distract the rest of the class every day. Parents, you know who you are because these kids obviously live with you and I know of many cases that ate junk food all day, watched tv or played video games for hours at a time, and had very few rules to follow in their life. This is probably the single biggest complaint parents with kids in disruptive classes have and I know of more than a few teachers who couldn't stand these kids either because their parents won't allow teachers to punish them or remove them from the class.

GMAFB. The kids who are that distracting to the class likely have underlying, undiagnosed emotional or behavioral issues. Their parents are probably ignorant about the condition and/or don’t have the resources to pay for the doctors visits and medications to treat ADHD, etc. Likely these are the same kids with LDs given the comorbidity rates. The schools can’t diagnose that or push parents to get a diagnosis so until those parents are better informed AND find a few thousand bucks lying around they are SOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:THEY DO KNOW. You have no idea what teachers have or have not said to their reps and admin about this. We push back/ they don’t care. You have no idea what curriculum *we* have asked for or what modifications we make against policy and with our own money to teach effectively. So quit acting like just because nobody listens to us either that we aren’t doing or saying anything. It’s literally stupid that you all believe teachers have so much control over return to school, curriculum, etc oh yeah but somehow we also stay giving ourselves low salaries with all this power we have.

+1,000,000,000

I believe you. Why are Administrators so devoted to this philosophy? I don’t get it.

Are most teachers in agreement that the curriculum is terrible? If so, how can parents and teachers join forces to change it? I want to help, but don’t know where to start!

If APS cares so much about equity (and they should!), they need to fix the curriculum problem. Low SES kids aren’t getting the tutoring and other supplementation that wealthier kids get. It is making the gap even worse! We need a quality curriculum for ALL!

This. It’s not fair.

The first thing that needs to be done in regular classrooms at the early elementary level is to get rid of the kids who can't sit still and behave. Put them in separate classes and stop hiding behind IEPs - They literally take up time that could be used for literacy or any other subject. I don't know how much time is literally wasted because one or more kids consistently distract the rest of the class every day. Parents, you know who you are because these kids obviously live with you and I know of many cases that ate junk food all day, watched tv or played video games for hours at a time, and had very few rules to follow in their life. This is probably the single biggest complaint parents with kids in disruptive classes have and I know of more than a few teachers who couldn't stand these kids either because their parents won't allow teachers to punish them or remove them from the class.

GMAFB. The kids who are that distracting to the class likely have underlying, undiagnosed emotional or behavioral issues. Their parents are probably ignorant about the condition and/or don’t have the resources to pay for the doctors visits and medications to treat ADHD, etc. Likely these are the same kids with LDs given the comorbidity rates. The schools can’t diagnose that or push parents to get a diagnosis so until those parents are better informed AND find a few thousand bucks lying around they are SOL.

I don't disagree. But that's why other school districts (like FCPS) have tracking. So that those kids can get the help they need separately. We're at a high FARMs rate school and I've put in a lot of volunteer time as well as know many URM parents with kids that have the capacity to learn (I've helped teach some of them) but are underperforming in the classroom because the teacher is literally chasing after the same kids every day. This is a thread about literacy and why kids are not learning how to read. I'm simply stating that the URM that are not learning how to read would have more time to gain literacy skills if they had a teacher that would teach them and not have to wrangle kids all day. Maintaining proper classroom decorum is one of the greatest models that teachers can show young children about learning environment and happy teachers make smarter students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:THEY DO KNOW. You have no idea what teachers have or have not said to their reps and admin about this. We push back/ they don’t care. You have no idea what curriculum *we* have asked for or what modifications we make against policy and with our own money to teach effectively. So quit acting like just because nobody listens to us either that we aren’t doing or saying anything. It’s literally stupid that you all believe teachers have so much control over return to school, curriculum, etc oh yeah but somehow we also stay giving ourselves low salaries with all this power we have.

+1,000,000,000

I believe you. Why are Administrators so devoted to this philosophy? I don’t get it.

Are most teachers in agreement that the curriculum is terrible? If so, how can parents and teachers join forces to change it? I want to help, but don’t know where to start!

If APS cares so much about equity (and they should!), they need to fix the curriculum problem. Low SES kids aren’t getting the tutoring and other supplementation that wealthier kids get. It is making the gap even worse! We need a quality curriculum for ALL!

This. It’s not fair.

The first thing that needs to be done in regular classrooms at the early elementary level is to get rid of the kids who can't sit still and behave. Put them in separate classes and stop hiding behind IEPs - They literally take up time that could be used for literacy or any other subject. I don't know how much time is literally wasted because one or more kids consistently distract the rest of the class every day. Parents, you know who you are because these kids obviously live with you and I know of many cases that ate junk food all day, watched tv or played video games for hours at a time, and had very few rules to follow in their life. This is probably the single biggest complaint parents with kids in disruptive classes have and I know of more than a few teachers who couldn't stand these kids either because their parents won't allow teachers to punish them or remove them from the class.

GMAFB. The kids who are that distracting to the class likely have underlying, undiagnosed emotional or behavioral issues. Their parents are probably ignorant about the condition and/or don’t have the resources to pay for the doctors visits and medications to treat ADHD, etc. Likely these are the same kids with LDs given the comorbidity rates. The schools can’t diagnose that or push parents to get a diagnosis so until those parents are better informed AND find a few thousand bucks lying around they are SOL.

Those kids are probably bored to death. Imagine how they’d behave with engaging material that actually teaches them something!

There are always disruptive students at any grade level (even college - the one kid that won’t stop asking asinine questions). Good teachers know how to handle them.

[Anonymous]

The first thing that needs to be done in regular classrooms at the early elementary level is to get rid of the kids who can't sit still and behave. Put them in separate classes and stop hiding behind IEPs - They literally take up time that could be used for literacy or any other subject. I don't know how much time is literally wasted because one or more kids consistently distract the rest of the class every day. Parents, you know who you are because these kids obviously live with you and I know of many cases that ate junk food all day, watched tv or played video games for hours at a time, and had very few rules to follow in their life. This is probably the single biggest complaint parents with kids in disruptive classes have and I know of more than a few teachers who couldn't stand these kids either because their parents won't allow teachers to punish them or remove them from the class.

You are truly an awful person. I hope you leave for private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:THEY DO KNOW. You have no idea what teachers have or have not said to their reps and admin about this. We push back/ they don’t care. You have no idea what curriculum *we* have asked for or what modifications we make against policy and with our own money to teach effectively. So quit acting like just because nobody listens to us either that we aren’t doing or saying anything. It’s literally stupid that you all believe teachers have so much control over return to school, curriculum, etc oh yeah but somehow we also stay giving ourselves low salaries with all this power we have.

+1,000,000,000

I believe you. Why are Administrators so devoted to this philosophy? I don’t get it.

Are most teachers in agreement that the curriculum is terrible? If so, how can parents and teachers join forces to change it? I want to help, but don’t know where to start!

If APS cares so much about equity (and they should!), they need to fix the curriculum problem. Low SES kids aren’t getting the tutoring and other supplementation that wealthier kids get. It is making the gap even worse! We need a quality curriculum for ALL!

This. It’s not fair.

The first thing that needs to be done in regular classrooms at the early elementary level is to get rid of the kids who can't sit still and behave. Put them in separate classes and stop hiding behind IEPs - They literally take up time that could be used for literacy or any other subject. I don't know how much time is literally wasted because one or more kids consistently distract the rest of the class every day. Parents, you know who you are because these kids obviously live with you and I know of many cases that ate junk food all day, watched tv or played video games for hours at a time, and had very few rules to follow in their life. This is probably the single biggest complaint parents with kids in disruptive classes have and I know of more than a few teachers who couldn't stand these kids either because their parents won't allow teachers to punish them or remove them from the class.

GMAFB. The kids who are that distracting to the class likely have underlying, undiagnosed emotional or behavioral issues. Their parents are probably ignorant about the condition and/or don’t have the resources to pay for the doctors visits and medications to treat ADHD, etc. Likely these are the same kids with LDs given the comorbidity rates. The schools can’t diagnose that or push parents to get a diagnosis so until those parents are better informed AND find a few thousand bucks lying around they are SOL.

Those kids are probably bored to death. Imagine how they’d behave with engaging material that actually teaches them something!

There are always disruptive students at any grade level (even college - the one kid that won’t stop asking asinine questions). Good teachers know how to handle them.

This. They probably are bored. So many kids are bored in school now. Is anyone ever challenged or excited? My 5th grader is learning about dinosaurs in 5th grade science. dinosaurs again? These kids deserve metals for sitting through this tedium all day long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My APS ES kid has phonics instruction every day. I'm not sure about in K because it was just a "language arts" block, but in 1st had both phonemic awareness and phonics, and in 2nd phonics. DC is a strong reader so admittedly haven't paid much attention, but now I'm curious if it's not really phonics, or if there are differences between schools?

It varies with the school. Most APS schools choose Calkin but there are a few that don’t.

Mi thought all of APS switched. We are at nottingham and they are using Orrin Gilligham this year thank goodness. Mynolder kids has one heck of a time leading to read, and one is still struggling.

No, Nottingham isn’t using Orton-Gillingham school wide this year in classroom-sized groups. OG is not a tier 1 program at any APS school. Some schools previously (in the past 2 years) started using Lucy Calkins Phonics in grades 1-2 which is better than the reading and writing curriculum in that it does include phonics. A few schools are using fundations in primary grades but only a few, I know ATS and Barcroft have used it. Some other schools use Fundations and Wilson as an intervention program and all K-1 uses heggerty Phonemic awareness drills as well. There has been a big switch this year to structured literacy and to using Lexia for all students in elementary. OG is a small group or 1:1 intervention so tier 2 or 3 in ATSS or also in special education services.

Sorry can you explain what all this means? Especially tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3. Is Fundations and Wilson structured literacy? I have a kindergartener at ATS so we have very little experience with the school system. We picked ATS because my coworker kept raving about it so I figured why not tour it. I did, liked it, applied and DD got in. Definitely have no idea who Calkins was before this week lol though now I’m glad we are in a school that doesn’t use it.

[Anonymous]

Sorry can you explain what all this means? Especially tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3. Is Fundations and Wilson structured literacy? I have a kindergartener at ATS so we have very little experience with the school system. We picked ATS because my coworker kept raving about it so I figured why not tour it. I did, liked it, applied and DD got in. Definitely have no idea who Calkins was before this week lol though now I’m glad we are in a school that doesn’t use it.

Google “apsva ATSS”

Google “Fundations” “Wilson reading”

Do your own research.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sorry can you explain what all this means? Especially tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3. Is Fundations and Wilson structured literacy? I have a kindergartener at ATS so we have very little experience with the school system. We picked ATS because my coworker kept raving about it so I figured why not tour it. I did, liked it, applied and DD got in. Definitely have no idea who Calkins was before this week lol though now I’m glad we are in a school that doesn’t use it.

Google “apsva ATSS”

Google “Fundations” “Wilson reading”

Do your own research.

Yeah. Pp you’re basically asking someone to distill for you the science of reading and all the approaches and the merits and downsides of each. People get actual degrees and do research in this. Nobody is going to break it down in one message board comment for you and tbh, if you don’t know what any of this means, you’re not really in a position to be advocating for schools to take any certain approach. It’s just not your lane.