Reply to MCPS boasts about 54.9% 3rd ELA proficiency rate in latest MCAP results

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Reply to "MCPS boasts about 54.9% 3rd ELA proficiency rate in latest MCAP results"

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[quote=Anonymous]I've been in elementary education for 22 years and here's my take on why kids are performing so poorly...
1) We haven't been teaching using the research behind the science of reading until very recently. As a country, we've spent decades teaching kids to read incorrectly despite there being 40+ years of scientific research to prove how to do it correctly. For whatever reason, school systems across America banded together and adopted the "balanced literacy approach" which is not how kids learn to read.
2) The Common Core State Standards are just too rigorous and developmentally inappropriate for the primary grades. Teachers have to shove so much content into kids because the bar is so high. There's no time to build a solid foundation in the basics before layering in harder concepts. So for the younger kids, we're basically trying to build a sand castle at high tide.
3) The assessments are ridiculously tough. I believe kids can do very hard things but since we're so test-driven, we don't let kids learn and demonstrate their understanding in ways that capitalize on all of their unique strengths. Multiple-choice and written response questions don't capture the genius of all of our awesome kids.
4) Our society has changed. I help get kids in the cars every afternoon during dismissal and I'm always saddened to see how many parents barely acknowledge their kids as they get in the car because they're so engrossed in their cell phones. I have caught myself a time or two on my phone and not giving my own kids my undivided attention but I think we underestimate how much screen time has had an impact on our kids overall development. [/quote]

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