Reply to No More Reading Levels in Grades 3

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Parents with higher achieving students have just about had it with the dumbing down. Mcps will eventually see more and more higher achieving students pulled out. If more reasonably priced private schools or education co-ops existed,  I'd pull both of my kids out immediately. [/quote]

How is expecting kids to be 1 to 2 grades above grade level dumbing things down?[/quote]

It’s not that.  It’s the fact that they no longer want to keep records.  Keeping it off the report card makes it easier to say that kids are all ‘doing fine’.  Allows MCPS to get out of providing services for kids who might need services.  Allows MCPS to talk about how all the URMS are doing fantastic because there is no data otherwise.[/quote]

same concept as then they ceased final exams in HS. 
And stopped issueing B+s or A- so everyone's final grade rounds up to an A in HS.

all smoke and mirrors, and has the top half of the class scrambling to differentiate themselves, since their hard work getting a 95% correct is an A just like the 86%'er kid. [/quote]

No, it’s not equivalent at all.  Kids learn to read by third and read to learn third grade and beyond.  This is just another way to sweep LDs under the rug.  Mcps doesn’t use evidence based techniques or curriculum to address dyslexia even though 1 in 5 people have some form of it.

People who have means will tutor or do private school.  If people try to fight the system, they will be crushed by MCPS lawyers and this just makes it easier.[/quote]

We are saying the same things.

MCPS created only 2 bands of ranking students: pass/fail, A/B. This both aids them in neglecting to provide LD services to K-3 kids and aids them in saying 50% of their HS is 4.0 unweighted.

We have a family history of dyslexia. From what I see at MCPS, they will not lift a finger to evaluate my child's reading or letter/number comprehension until 3rd grade and that will be a 3-9 month process. Most likely we won't get an IED plan or bethesda school specialist appointed, because MCPS must triage its resources to severe LD and ESOL cases where kids are grade levels behind their age. If we do manage to get an IED for dyslexia, my kid will be pulled out 1 or 2x a week with a small group of other LD kids, of any LD.

We hope to move by then. [/quote]

No we are not saying the same thing.  Ranking of high school students on the verge of graduating is absolutely not similar at all to identifying and remediating dyslexia.  If you actually knew anything about dyslexia, the public schools in general do everything they can not to address it.
[/quote]

New poster not quoted in the chain above.

I agree that identifying and remediating dyslexia and ranking high school students are two very different concerns.

However, I agree with previous posters that MCPS's general trend is to minimize effective student data that is available to parents.  I would add to the existing list the following examples:

Teacher comments were eliminated in ES.

Most work isn't graded, merely checked for completion.

Work that is graded, if the student has attempted it, receives a minimum grade of 50%, regardless of it's correctness.

Students are given the opportunity to retake tests.

Tests are kept at school and parents only get to see summary reports that tell the number of items the student got correct/incorrect.  The parent can't see which questions were missed, nor what the student did wrong.

The ES grading scale was changed to one where it was apparently nearly impossible in many cases to get the top grade, and the next grade could include basically anything from an A to a C/D.  Thankfully, I think the scale is being changed again, hopefully for the better.

MCPS is so intent on maintaining it's image of being "one of the best school systems in the nation" that they surpress data that might show otherwise.  Moreover, if parents aren't given data which might indicate a problem, then they may be less likely to bother MCPS for a solution.  Those few who try are easy to reject because MCPS doesn't show a problem.  Both the dyslexia issue and the high school ranking issue fall under this umbrella, and they aren't the only issues involved.  While each issue needs to be addressed separately, it would help all of them if MCPS would provide clear student data to the parents.[/quote]

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