Anonymous wrote:I asked this question years ago and was roasted for trying to improve MAP scores. My kid is now in high school and I feel like there was not much more I could have done. His MAP score is still about the same as it was in 3rd grade. I read to my kids A LOT. I defined words that I thought they wouldn’t know while reading, and sometimes pointed out literary elements like foreshadowing or setting tone. I created a word wall and wrote down some good vocabulary words so they could see them regularly. I had grammar workbooks that they did sparingly unless I sat with them and went over the question together. Before anyone criticizes me for overdoing it, his 3rd grade teacher told me he needed extra tutoring in reading and writing. That being said, he’s doing just fine in school now, even if his MAP isn’t stellar, he got an A in honors English and that matters more.

I do not believe that your son is in his high school and his MAP score has not moved AT ALL since 3rd grade. No way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any suggestions on how to strengthen MAP-R scores? What are they testing besides comprehension/vocab? What sorts of books would be most helpful? Any fun apps that might strengthen the kinds of things they test for? Any other ideas for things we can do at home that are relatively low-effort and fun? (Not interested in tutoring, forcing her to grind through boring workbooks/practice tests, etc.)

(For context, I think my 3rd grader would really benefit from and thrive in ELC in 4th and 5th grade, but her fall MAP-R was around the 80th percentile, although her DIBELS comprehension score was around the 95th. We're at a medium FARMS school so I think she'd likely only need to be in the 85th-90th percentile range to qualify for ELC, so I'd love to see if there are ways to help give her a little bump. I know we can request for her to be included even if she's not in the CES lottery pool, but for some school-related reasons I'm nervous about relying on that.)

Why do you believe the your 3rd grader would benefit more from ELC than the standard 4th grade curriculum? Particularly given that the curriculum is new this year and she has MAP scores that while good are lower than those traditionally selected for ELC.

Came here to say this.

Same.

And why do you want her to be in the CES lottery pool?

We would not take a CES spot if offered, but my understanding is that being in the CES lottery pool guarantees you a spot in ELC (and there are some school-specific reasons we want the guarantee.)

I like the ELC curriculum better than the Amplify CKLA curriculum (I have looked at the details of both.) Also, knowing my child and our school, I think she would learn better (and be happier) being challenged in a cohort of advanced kids rather than getting lost in the mix in a general classroom with a lot of below-grade-level kids. And she's only a few percentiles below the cutoff at our school (and has shown signs of possibly being one of those "doesn't test well" kids), so I'm not concerned about her not being able to keep up. I agree she's not one of those highly-gifted, desperately-needs-enriched-learning kids, but I do think she would be better off with the ELC.

How is she doing with the CKLA class currently? She in the mid 80’s but you don’t think she test well?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any suggestions on how to strengthen MAP-R scores? What are they testing besides comprehension/vocab? What sorts of books would be most helpful? Any fun apps that might strengthen the kinds of things they test for? Any other ideas for things we can do at home that are relatively low-effort and fun? (Not interested in tutoring, forcing her to grind through boring workbooks/practice tests, etc.)

(For context, I think my 3rd grader would really benefit from and thrive in ELC in 4th and 5th grade, but her fall MAP-R was around the 80th percentile, although her DIBELS comprehension score was around the 95th. We're at a medium FARMS school so I think she'd likely only need to be in the 85th-90th percentile range to qualify for ELC, so I'd love to see if there are ways to help give her a little bump. I know we can request for her to be included even if she's not in the CES lottery pool, but for some school-related reasons I'm nervous about relying on that.)

Why do you believe the your 3rd grader would benefit more from ELC than the standard 4th grade curriculum? Particularly given that the curriculum is new this year and she has MAP scores that while good are lower than those traditionally selected for ELC.

Came here to say this.

Same.

And why do you want her to be in the CES lottery pool?

We would not take a CES spot if offered, but my understanding is that being in the CES lottery pool guarantees you a spot in ELC (and there are some school-specific reasons we want the guarantee.)

I like the ELC curriculum better than the Amplify CKLA curriculum (I have looked at the details of both.) Also, knowing my child and our school, I think she would learn better (and be happier) being challenged in a cohort of advanced kids rather than getting lost in the mix in a general classroom with a lot of below-grade-level kids. And she's only a few percentiles below the cutoff at our school (and has shown signs of possibly being one of those "doesn't test well" kids), so I'm not concerned about her not being able to keep up. I agree she's not one of those highly-gifted, desperately-needs-enriched-learning kids, but I do think she would be better off with the ELC.

I thought everyone gets ELC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any suggestions on how to strengthen MAP-R scores? What are they testing besides comprehension/vocab? What sorts of books would be most helpful? Any fun apps that might strengthen the kinds of things they test for? Any other ideas for things we can do at home that are relatively low-effort and fun? (Not interested in tutoring, forcing her to grind through boring workbooks/practice tests, etc.)

(For context, I think my 3rd grader would really benefit from and thrive in ELC in 4th and 5th grade, but her fall MAP-R was around the 80th percentile, although her DIBELS comprehension score was around the 95th. We're at a medium FARMS school so I think she'd likely only need to be in the 85th-90th percentile range to qualify for ELC, so I'd love to see if there are ways to help give her a little bump. I know we can request for her to be included even if she's not in the CES lottery pool, but for some school-related reasons I'm nervous about relying on that.)

Why do you believe the your 3rd grader would benefit more from ELC than the standard 4th grade curriculum? Particularly given that the curriculum is new this year and she has MAP scores that while good are lower than those traditionally selected for ELC.

Came here to say this.

Same.

And why do you want her to be in the CES lottery pool?

Anonymous wrote:Read with her every day for at least 30 minutes. It starts at home.

Does reading to older kids make a big difference even if they read a ton on their own? Being read to is definitely not my daughter's preference so I'd have to sweeten the deal to get her to buy in (i.e. let her stay up late for it or something.) Is it just the exposure to more complicated books, or are there other things to try to work in while reading together?

I asked this question years ago and was roasted for trying to improve MAP scores. My kid is now in high school and I feel like there was not much more I could have done. His MAP score is still about the same as it was in 3rd grade. I read to my kids A LOT. I defined words that I thought they wouldn’t know while reading, and sometimes pointed out literary elements like foreshadowing or setting tone. I created a word wall and wrote down some good vocabulary words so they could see them regularly. I had grammar workbooks that they did sparingly unless I sat with them and went over the question together. Before anyone criticizes me for overdoing it, his 3rd grade teacher told me he needed extra tutoring in reading and writing. That being said, he’s doing just fine in school now, even if his MAP isn’t stellar, he got an A in honors English and that matters more.

She needs to read, read, read.

Does she enjoy reading independently? If not, keep trying different reading materials until you find something that grabs her interest. Don’t just think about chapter books or novels. Graphic novels might interest her. Find books about her specific interests. Don’t discourage her from reading books that don’t seem challenging; any reading is better than no reading and you want to get her reading as much as possible.

Have conversations about reading. Read different genres together and see what she likes. Maybe she’s never read science fiction. Maybe it turns out she likes poetry or mysteries. Talk about different authors’ writing styles. If she finds an author she likes, get more of their books. Find other authors with similar styles.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any suggestions on how to strengthen MAP-R scores? What are they testing besides comprehension/vocab? What sorts of books would be most helpful? Any fun apps that might strengthen the kinds of things they test for? Any other ideas for things we can do at home that are relatively low-effort and fun? (Not interested in tutoring, forcing her to grind through boring workbooks/practice tests, etc.)

(For context, I think my 3rd grader would really benefit from and thrive in ELC in 4th and 5th grade, but her fall MAP-R was around the 80th percentile, although her DIBELS comprehension score was around the 95th. We're at a medium FARMS school so I think she'd likely only need to be in the 85th-90th percentile range to qualify for ELC, so I'd love to see if there are ways to help give her a little bump. I know we can request for her to be included even if she's not in the CES lottery pool, but for some school-related reasons I'm nervous about relying on that.)

Why do you believe the your 3rd grader would benefit more from ELC than the standard 4th grade curriculum? Particularly given that the curriculum is new this year and she has MAP scores that while good are lower than those traditionally selected for ELC.

Came here to say this.

Get her excited about books and reading a lot! Listen to audiobooks - talk about books. Listen to story podcasts.

Anonymous wrote:Any suggestions on how to strengthen MAP-R scores? What are they testing besides comprehension/vocab? What sorts of books would be most helpful? Any fun apps that might strengthen the kinds of things they test for? Any other ideas for things we can do at home that are relatively low-effort and fun? (Not interested in tutoring, forcing her to grind through boring workbooks/practice tests, etc.)

(For context, I think my 3rd grader would really benefit from and thrive in ELC in 4th and 5th grade, but her fall MAP-R was around the 80th percentile, although her DIBELS comprehension score was around the 95th. We're at a medium FARMS school so I think she'd likely only need to be in the 85th-90th percentile range to qualify for ELC, so I'd love to see if there are ways to help give her a little bump. I know we can request for her to be included even if she's not in the CES lottery pool, but for some school-related reasons I'm nervous about relying on that.)

Why do you believe the your 3rd grader would benefit more from ELC than the standard 4th grade curriculum? Particularly given that the curriculum is new this year and she has MAP scores that while good are lower than those traditionally selected for ELC.

Get some workbooks and work at home.

Our school allows a wide range of abilities and waters down the curriculum to accommodate the lower performers. So really your kid has s good chance of being in the watered down ELC.

Read with her every day for at least 30 minutes. It starts at home.

Any suggestions on how to strengthen MAP-R scores? What are they testing besides comprehension/vocab? What sorts of books would be most helpful? Any fun apps that might strengthen the kinds of things they test for? Any other ideas for things we can do at home that are relatively low-effort and fun? (Not interested in tutoring, forcing her to grind through boring workbooks/practice tests, etc.)

(For context, I think my 3rd grader would really benefit from and thrive in ELC in 4th and 5th grade, but her fall MAP-R was around the 80th percentile, although her DIBELS comprehension score was around the 95th. We're at a medium FARMS school so I think she'd likely only need to be in the 85th-90th percentile range to qualify for ELC, so I'd love to see if there are ways to help give her a little bump. I know we can request for her to be included even if she's not in the CES lottery pool, but for some school-related reasons I'm nervous about relying on that.)