Reply to Reading in county third grade classrooms is a three-alarm fire going unanswered

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We're in DCPS and I don't understand how this is STILL happening in MCPS. We've been pleasantly surprised to see how well DCPS has course corrected regarding reading and our own experience has been phenomenal -- all evidence-based, focus on phonics, no Lucy Caulkins nonsense at all.

We're contemplating a move to MoCo for several reasons, including schools (in a bad HS triangle in DC) and this is giving me pause.[/quote]

My second grader in MCPS has consistently been taught phonics in school since the beginning, definitely more than my current fourth grader received (I remember sight word books and “look at the pictures for clues” during the zoom school days). I don’t know where the current third graders fall. Was there a change to the MCPS curriculum with more phonics starting with the kids who are now second graders?[/quote]

RGR was implemented at most schools in the 2022/2023 school year.  I also have a second grader and it was a huge shift between kindergarten and 1st grade.  In kindergarten they were bringing home lists of sight words to memorize and being taught cueing, which I could tell was not really working for DC.  I was relieved when they actually started learning phonics in 1st grade.

So my understanding is that current 3rd graders would have gotten RGR only last year.[/quote]

MCPS also has implemented Science of Reading across all ES, has Dibels for K-2, and [b]has an RFP out[/b] for a new ES ELA curriculum.  There is reading specialist in all ES.

The above said, I’m always amazed that parents don’t think they need to be heavily involved with teaching their kids to read.[/quote]

There's a new RFP?  They actually going to make a selection this time?

IMO parental involvement should be in a supporting role- e.g., trained instructors should introduce the phonics skills and parents help their kids practice at home.  For too long terrible methods were being used in the classroom and really hard to try to get your kids to sound out the words when they are being taught at school to look at the picture and guess.  Ask me how I know.[/quote]

Parents should be in the drivers seat when teaching kids the Alphabet, basic numbers, and how to read.  Just like they should be in the drivers seat in teaching basic life skills and manners.  I’m tired of folks being like it’s really hard to do this or that because of school.  Parenting is work.  No one has ever said it should be easy.

Do I think that schools should have been using Phonics instruction all along, Yes.  But the fact they weren’t in no way stopped me from doing what was needed for my children to read.  If folks want to farm out the above responsibilities, fine that’s their prerogative.  But IMO that in no way removes the accountability from parents.[/quote]

I get that it IS this way but feel that public education is dropping the ball here.[/quote]

Agreed. Under the current model, the disparity will only continue to grow-families with time and resources to supplement heavily at home will and those that don’t, won’t.  And yes, of course parents should support their kids at home as best they can, but it just seems the expectations of what they need to do has grown.  Not to mention it’s already a long school day for young kids.  My kid is DONE after a half hour of homework in the evening.[/quote]

I agree with you about supplementation, but my experience is that MCPS has actually done this one thing right by reintroducing phonics education. Yes, they got it wrong, but so did basically the entire primary education establishment.

This year's third graders absolutely got the sharp end of the stick. Before the curriculum revamp, kindergarten online, the weird post-covid year for first grade. They need targeted intervention for sure, but I'm not sure that the situation is quite so dire in other grades. [/quote]

Oh my gosh this. My third grader did not learn one single thing in virtual kindergarten. Not the teacher’s fault it’s just not something that ever should have happened. My daughter was already reading and doing more advanced math and she will be ok. But some of those kids really really needed kindergarten. Plus being out for 10 days at a time over and over during first grade. My daughter’s teacher has said as much - these kids are really struggling. I can’t believe the notes and things that were coming home from her friends even last year that were basically unintelligible. [/quote]

I would love to see some data that looks at outcomes by grade. At the population level I think that the data shows most kids have made up the learning loss from the pandemic. But if we break it out by grade level, I think we would see that kids in preschool and kindergarten during the closed year are still showing gaps.[/quote]

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