APS and Lexia

[Anonymous]

I have a first grader who is really being pushed to complete her Lexia goal each week. She hadn’t met it recently and so she was sent to work on Lexia during independent writing and math time. She was also told that she wouldn’t be allowed to participate in their Friday closing activity if she didn’t finish. Once I realized what was going on, I was pretty upset about it. None of my kids like doing Lexia because it moves so slowly so it’s hard for me to get them to do it after school if they didn’t have time to do it during the day. I also would much prefer she be reading a book than playing Lexia.

I have my suspicions as to why it’s being pushed so hard but I’m curious if this is happening at any other grade levels or if anyone knows why the teachers are pushing apps like Lexia and Dreambox so much.

[Anonymous]

FCPS here. I notice this too...so much time on those apps. I find it pretty concerning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a first grader who is really being pushed to complete her Lexia goal each week. She hadn’t met it recently and so she was sent to work on Lexia during independent writing and math time. She was also told that she wouldn’t be allowed to participate in their Friday closing activity if she didn’t finish. Once I realized what was going on, I was pretty upset about it. None of my kids like doing Lexia because it moves so slowly so it’s hard for me to get them to do it after school if they didn’t have time to do it during the day. I also would much prefer she be reading a book than playing Lexia.

I have my suspicions as to why it’s being pushed so hard but I’m curious if this is happening at any other grade levels or if anyone knows why the teachers are pushing apps like Lexia and Dreambox so much.

Yup, same at our elementary school, all grade levels. It’s because they never taught the kids how to spell or sound out words, and now the kids are failing. That’s why. Data to prove that Lucy Caulkins has been a disaster and needs to run out of Virginia on a rail.

[Anonymous]

What’s your suspicion?

[Anonymous]

Yes, the Lexia pressure is intense!

[Anonymous]

Lexia and Dreambox are the only things teaching new content to my kid this year, so yay for that? The class instruction is very slow.

[Anonymous]

Yeah this is so silly. Where is the recent push coming from? I might just email the teacher and opt out.

[Anonymous]

My 2nd grader's Lexia goal is pretty low, 20 minutes, so always completes it (usually on asynch Mondays). But I can overhear the teacher and while she does encourage them to complete the goals I have never once heard her say a kid wouldn't be able to participate in the closing activity if they didn't finish (be it Lexia or any other seesaw assignment). I would be upset about that too.

[Anonymous]

Lexus is ridiculous. My 3rd grader hates it and randomly drops words here and there and clicks on things just to get it moving, so it says she’s on a 1st grade reading level. She wasn’t at a 1st grade level when she was actually in 1st grade. So she refuses to do it. And I won’t make her.

[Anonymous]

What level Lexis is she on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s your suspicion?

Well, I’m guessing it’s an easy way to show that certain teaching requirements are being met even though the teacher isn’t doing the teaching. There is probably pressure coming from administration because the pressure on the kids seems to have ramped up this week.

For what it’s worth, I’m someone who thinks the pressure that kids get put on them to perform well on SOLs is absurd. If kids at a school aren’t passing, it’s likely not the kid’s fault.

I understand that in this environment, teachers can’t assume that their students have access to books and other literacy supplies at home. I’m fine with providing some modifications for my children since we do have plenty of those things. The issue is when my kid is in tears because she is worried about missing out on something with her class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lexus is ridiculous. My 3rd grader hates it and randomly drops words here and there and clicks on things just to get it moving, so it says she’s on a 1st grade reading level. She wasn’t at a 1st grade level when she was actually in 1st grade. So she refuses to do it. And I won’t make her.

This is exactly what my kids do. I keep trying to tell them that if they just take it seriously, they will have a better experience. It’s unfortunate that the teachers don’t seem to be willing to increase the levels to provide more of a challenge.

[Anonymous]

The amount of Lexia they being asked to do is pretty minimal.

Plenty of time to both do Lexia and read a book.

I am no great APS defender, but Lexia is a highly regarded program generally.

[Anonymous]

Lexia gives the schools an enormous amount of data to compare the children to each other. It’s easy to understand and track for the principals. (It does NOT mean that it’s a good teaching tool for actual skills, just that the company has built in easy reporting and tracking.)

Lexia tracks children by class, grade, schools and district. It’s a powerful tool to compare teachers and schools. It absolutely is used as a way to evaluate teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lexus is ridiculous. My 3rd grader hates it and randomly drops words here and there and clicks on things just to get it moving, so it says she’s on a 1st grade reading level. She wasn’t at a 1st grade level when she was actually in 1st grade. So she refuses to do it. And I won’t make her.

This is exactly what my kids do. I keep trying to tell them that if they just take it seriously, they will have a better experience. It’s unfortunate that the teachers don’t seem to be willing to increase the levels to provide more of a challenge.

The teachers do not want to increase the levels because then their (the teacher’s) Lexia profile could go down.