Anonymous wrote:It’s a computer program and can be glitchy. My kid didn’t know he needed headphones for part of the test and was placed at the kindergarten level. He has been working through it for the last year and a half. He was in 6th grade aap when that happened and as a aap 7th grader he still has to work on it sometimes.
Sometimes computer programs suck. They suck more when humans and teachers aren’t allowed to override the system.

Anonymous wrote:Teacher pp here— our training for Lexia and ST Math was pretty minimal, and most teachers just assign the minutes without really understanding how it works or how to best leverage it. We’re all over-extended. I figured out a lot by exploring on my own. I think with a tech-savvy reading specialist more teachers could be doing this— mine is very nice but doesn’t seem to really understand the program herself.

(I am also one of the very few who really digs ST Math. There is so much you can do with it if you assign objectives carefully to complement class units, monitor usage, and accelerate the kids who need it. Also giving unlimited Jijis is a game changer.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lexia has 5 areas of instruction. My understanding is that it places the student at the lowest level they score in any one area, because the program doesn’t allow different levels for different areas. (Power Up, the 6th and up program, does allow kids to be in different levels for, say, grammar and comprehension.)

So if they score below grade level for comprehension but on or above for everything else— it’s going to place them below grade level. The good news is if they focus and pay attention, they should move up quickly.

Teachers CAN manually advance kids’ levels or reset the pretest. But the district doesn’t advertise that to the teachers and it’s possible that some schools have that feature turned off.

I teach AAP and check my kids’ progress weekly. I had a bunch of my kids retake the pretest in September, since they hadn’t taken it since the beginning of last year, and all but one were placed higher than their current levels. I have also manually advanced kids who are breezing through the material with high accuracy and speed. I do this very quietly because our reading specialist has discouraged it. (Teachers— go to the “manage” tab on our student list and click on the pencil to edit, then pick “reading program.”)

I also have kids who insist that what they’re doing is too easy, but when I check their progress and observe them using the program, they are in fact placed appropriately.

One tip— Lexia assigns the required weekly minutes based on how quickly they are moving through the material and whether they are likely to finish the grade level material by the end of the year. If the child tries to game the system by letting the program run while “multitasking” or screwing around and randomly picking answers until they eventually hit the right ones, the program assumes they are working very slowly and assigns then extra minutes to compensate.

The best bet to get assigned fewer minutes is to completely focus and finish as many activities accurately as possible during the assigned time. Once I figured this out and explained it to my kids, a bunch of them went from being assigned 70 minutes per week to 40 (the standard) or even 20 (for kids who are ahead of schedule) within a month.

But one more thing...if they catch up quickly then why have them redo the placement test?

Anyway, sounds like your approach is a great one. I wish all teachers were using it.

Anonymous wrote:Lexia has 5 areas of instruction. My understanding is that it places the student at the lowest level they score in any one area, because the program doesn’t allow different levels for different areas. (Power Up, the 6th and up program, does allow kids to be in different levels for, say, grammar and comprehension.)

So if they score below grade level for comprehension but on or above for everything else— it’s going to place them below grade level. The good news is if they focus and pay attention, they should move up quickly.

Teachers CAN manually advance kids’ levels or reset the pretest. But the district doesn’t advertise that to the teachers and it’s possible that some schools have that feature turned off.

I teach AAP and check my kids’ progress weekly. I had a bunch of my kids retake the pretest in September, since they hadn’t taken it since the beginning of last year, and all but one were placed higher than their current levels. I have also manually advanced kids who are breezing through the material with high accuracy and speed. I do this very quietly because our reading specialist has discouraged it. (Teachers— go to the “manage” tab on our student list and click on the pencil to edit, then pick “reading program.”)

I also have kids who insist that what they’re doing is too easy, but when I check their progress and observe them using the program, they are in fact placed appropriately.

One tip— Lexia assigns the required weekly minutes based on how quickly they are moving through the material and whether they are likely to finish the grade level material by the end of the year. If the child tries to game the system by letting the program run while “multitasking” or screwing around and randomly picking answers until they eventually hit the right ones, the program assumes they are working very slowly and assigns then extra minutes to compensate.

The best bet to get assigned fewer minutes is to completely focus and finish as many activities accurately as possible during the assigned time. Once I figured this out and explained it to my kids, a bunch of them went from being assigned 70 minutes per week to 40 (the standard) or even 20 (for kids who are ahead of schedule) within a month.

Anonymous wrote:Lexia has 5 areas of instruction. My understanding is that it places the student at the lowest level they score in any one area, because the program doesn’t allow different levels for different areas. (Power Up, the 6th and up program, does allow kids to be in different levels for, say, grammar and comprehension.)

So if they score below grade level for comprehension but on or above for everything else— it’s going to place them below grade level. The good news is if they focus and pay attention, they should move up quickly.

Teachers CAN manually advance kids’ levels or reset the pretest. But the district doesn’t advertise that to the teachers and it’s possible that some schools have that feature turned off.

I teach AAP and check my kids’ progress weekly. I had a bunch of my kids retake the pretest in September, since they hadn’t taken it since the beginning of last year, and all but one were placed higher than their current levels. I have also manually advanced kids who are breezing through the material with high accuracy and speed. I do this very quietly because our reading specialist has discouraged it. (Teachers— go to the “manage” tab on our student list and click on the pencil to edit, then pick “reading program.”)

I also have kids who insist that what they’re doing is too easy, but when I check their progress and observe them using the program, they are in fact placed appropriately.

One tip— Lexia assigns the required weekly minutes based on how quickly they are moving through the material and whether they are likely to finish the grade level material by the end of the year. If the child tries to game the system by letting the program run while “multitasking” or screwing around and randomly picking answers until they eventually hit the right ones, the program assumes they are working very slowly and assigns then extra minutes to compensate.

The best bet to get assigned fewer minutes is to completely focus and finish as many activities accurately as possible during the assigned time. Once I figured this out and explained it to my kids, a bunch of them went from being assigned 70 minutes per week to 40 (the standard) or even 20 (for kids who are ahead of schedule) within a month.

Anonymous wrote:I've read on here that some schools won't let kids start higher than grade level.