Reply to DRA Test scores

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Perhaps in the upper years, it is not an issue, but I've had to wait till November for my child to even start reading books in the public school kindergarten program even though my child had been reading for 2 years.  I really don't want to wait until this time next year for him to read anything on level just because the school isn't willing to test my child at the appropriate level or anywhere close to it during the kindergarten year.  It has nothing to do with a certain score.  I could care less about the score and am more interested in what the class days are like.  As was stated earlier, if the test isn't going to measure anything useful, why have it?  That said, I would hope that the schools would have a better measuring system with the results transferred up from grade to grade.  The typical report card does not do this.  There is nothing wrong with wanting your children to do something productive during class time.  Believe it or not, [b]children outside of this area are often getting better lower grade elementary teaching than in Fairfax County [/b]because there isn't all this backlash against parents who spend time helping their children learn and they don't have to deal with as many children who come unprepared to start kindergarten.[/quote]

While I can agree with your sentiment, the real purpose of the test and public school in general (from my few  years experience with FCPS) is to make sure your child meets the MINIMUM benchmarks.  They are not primarily  interested in making sure your child is reaching his/her potential or being challenged.  They use the tests to find out who is not meeting expectations so that they can give extra attention to them.

Even though the attention is mainly on determining who meets the benchmark and who doesn't, and even though your child's teacher may not be focussed on expanding the abilities of the highest group of kids, it doesn't mean your child is doomed.  There is a lot of concern in this area about the damage caused by children being bored.... I don't really buy into that philosophy.  Smart kids or fast learners need to learn to deal with the rest of the world.  If they are going to be exceptional in the long run, it's in their dna to be exceptional.  They will always be curious, creative and driven to learn.

You are going to be disappointed with public school if you expect the teachers to really take an in depth interest in your benchmark-satisfying child.   In my limited experience, they appreciate the above-average students, but they give them less attention b/c they are focussing on the ones who lag behind.  In first and second grade the above-average kids spend a lot of time self-entertaining b/c the small group attention goes to the below average kids.  I take public school for what it offers and I add to it outside of school.  If you really want personalized attention for an above-average kid, you need to look at private.  Otherwise, stick with public and do your own reading practice at home.   Same with math.  [/quote]

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