Reply to Can someone please tell me what the hell BCR, ECR, PSR, etc. mean??!!

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Reply to "Can someone please tell me what the hell BCR, ECR, PSR, etc. mean??!!"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]And any other stupid terms used by MCPS that likely serve to alienate students and their parents from learning and the English language??  I think I have figured out that BCR means a paragraph, and I am surmising that maybe ECR means Extended something or other because the teacher told me that ECR means multiple paragraphs, but when I emailed back asking what the acronyms actually stand for I didn't get a response.  They also use the term assessment to mean "test" (what's wrong with that?) and I think "exit card" means an in class activity...??  WTF.  Please correct me if I'm wrong.  I know someone must know what these terms mean.  At least they still use the term quiz.  At least I know what that means.[/quote]

BCRs and ECRs were phased out to my knowledge.  They were used with the old curriculum frameworks.  BCRs were (and if they're still used, should be) used to assess reading comprehension.  Sadly, many teachers were not aware of that fact.  ECRs assessed writing.  Assessing reading comprehension is very different from assessing writing, as the level of making inferences is assessed.  Are students skimming the surface and sticking with concrete facts, or are they able to "read between the lines" and make connections among the ideas in the reading passage?

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/directory/2013AcronymsGuide.pdf
MCPS acronyms

Reading is still assessed, but not within that same framework, and writing is assessed based on the the purpose of the assignment. Is the paper persuasive? a personal essay?  a research report?  a satire?  etc.

There's nothing wrong with using  assessment instead of testing  Semantically, here's the difference.  Assessments are used to drive instruction.  Tests, however, as normally associated with an end. A final exam is a test.  Formative assessments, however, are used during the course of the unit to check for understanding.  Would you rather have your child fail a test and receive that grade, or would you prefer that the teacher use the assessment to figure out what the child still needs?

An exit card helps to check for understanding. Most are not graded. If a teacher gives a lesson, at the end, a child may fill out an exit card to show how much s/he gained during the lesson.  It, too, can be used to drive instruction the next day.  Exit cards are widely used, but they should not be the main form of checking for understanding. During the entire lesson, the teacher should be informally checking to see whether students are paying attending and learning during that particular lesson.

I don't know what school you're child is attending, but the philosophy - and not the specifics of instruction - should be shared with parents.  If I get my blood drawn, I want to know why, but I don't need to know how to find a "good" vein.

I'm sorry you're so frustrated.  But I sometimes wonder if we put parents on information overload.  
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