Anonymous
Post 04/26/2017 12:49     Subject: Report card reading level - Early Elementary
22:37 I'm the PP you asked with which teacher I agreed. In retrospect, the 1st grade teacher had the reading ability correct. Second grade teacher may have been looking at writing as well, as they are supposed to do, and with that lens, the level may have been a little high.

11:35 - I have a current first grader, and our teacher is doing this, too. It's refreshing.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2017 11:35     Subject: Re:Report card reading level - Early Elementary
Anonymous wrote:MCPS does not test in early ES past 1 year above grade level. So if in second grade your child gets to a P and that's the benchmark for end of 3rd then your child's report card will show a P for the rest of second grade. It doesn't matter what your child's reading level really is, MCPS teachers can't test them past 1 year above grade level.


My first grader seems to be reading at the 3rd grade level (O or P?) so I don't think this is true?
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2017 11:32     Subject: Re:Report card reading level - Early Elementary
Anonymous wrote:MCPS does not test in early ES past 1 year above grade level. So if in second grade your child gets to a P and that's the benchmark for end of 3rd then your child's report card will show a P for the rest of second grade. It doesn't matter what your child's reading level really is, MCPS teachers can't test them past 1 year above grade level.

Correct. Remember in addition to "no child left behind" this means that "no child gets too far ahead"!
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2017 11:24     Subject: Re:Report card reading level - Early Elementary
MCPS does not test in early ES past 1 year above grade level. So if in second grade your child gets to a P and that's the benchmark for end of 3rd then your child's report card will show a P for the rest of second grade. It doesn't matter what your child's reading level really is, MCPS teachers can't test them past 1 year above grade level.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2017 11:21     Subject: Report card reading level - Early Elementary
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My child's reading level has been at the top of the graph (P), which stops at P, for three quarters. This is "end of 3rd grade" and she is in 2nd. Is she being evaluated as stagnant, or do they just not adjust the graph? She told me her latest books are R. I'm confused, and the teacher is no help so I'm not going to bother her when I'm 90% sure I won't get an answer (she's pretty checked out).


They do update the graph -- once a child tests above a P there will be a line beneath the graph that says "Your child's instructional reading level is R" (for example). So the teacher is providing "P" as your child's reading level. So that could mean he/she is testing at a P and being instructed with R level books for a specific unit (which definitely happens). Once the kids get to upper reading levels the pace of improvement is slower because the testing requires a written component, but it seems worth checking in with the teacher if the level has remained the same for the whole year. Honestly the m-class seems pretty subjective and it's up to the teacher how they submit the level. I had one kid where the teacher submitted the tested reading level for the report card and another where the teacher submitted the instructional level, which was higher. Also, apparently m-class caps out at level Q. Once they hit 3rd it's more objective because they use MAP-R scores.


Definitely look below the graph. My 2nd grader is listed as a Q. She doesn't have a dot anywhere on the graph, tho.

If the teacher won't answer your questions from afar, go in for a conference.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2017 11:19     Subject: Report card reading level - Early Elementary
Anonymous wrote:In 3rd-5th are there still reading groups and are the reading groups based on MAP-R scores?


At our school, there were functioning reading groups in 3rd and for the first half of 4th. I think they were based at least in part on MAP-R scores, but also on how well the child could read and comprehend in class.

5th grade has been a bit of a joke this year, especially for a strong reader. DS reported that there were 3 groups in his reading class-- kids who CANNOT read (I know some of these kids, there are likely LDs in play), kids who can pretty much read, and kids who are grade level and above. The "top" group cleaved into two pieces about a month ago when they introduced a new program for the top readers. It sounded something like the Great Books program I did in elementary, but has a different name that I can't recall. DS seems to think that this is better than what he was doing before, but he is still not getting much of a challenge.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2017 08:46     Subject: Report card reading level - Early Elementary
In 3rd-5th are there still reading groups and are the reading groups based on MAP-R scores?
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2017 07:54     Subject: Report card reading level - Early Elementary
Anonymous wrote:I feel like most kids catch up around 2nd grade. I had two daughters who were at 2nd grade level in kindergarten and clearly reading more fluently than classmates. By end of 2nd or mid 3rd, they were on par with half the class. Never considered it would be a teacher-measurement thing. I think it's more like a 'readiness' thing. Some kids are ready to read earlier than others but once they are 'ready' they take off. FWIW, they are now in middle school and avid readers. They do well on MAP-R but I don't think they're still two grade levels up...


You can ask the teacher for the MAP statistics, which will show where your child is compared to the county, his school, and the state (I think). There is also a history of your child's scores and computer predictions of how she will score next.
Anonymous
Post 04/26/2017 07:49     Subject: Report card reading level - Early Elementary
I feel like most kids catch up around 2nd grade. I had two daughters who were at 2nd grade level in kindergarten and clearly reading more fluently than classmates. By end of 2nd or mid 3rd, they were on par with half the class. Never considered it would be a teacher-measurement thing. I think it's more like a 'readiness' thing. Some kids are ready to read earlier than others but once they are 'ready' they take off. FWIW, they are now in middle school and avid readers. They do well on MAP-R but I don't think they're still two grade levels up...
Anonymous
Post 04/25/2017 22:37     Subject: Report card reading level - Early Elementary
Anonymous wrote:My kid spent all of 2nd Grade at the same reading level because the 2nd Grade teacher thought the 1st Grade teacher had assessed too high but 2nd Grade teacher did not want to move the level down. It made the report cards in 2nd Grade even more useless than normal. But things got back on track in 3rd and are on track now in 4th.


Which teacher did you agree with, PP?
Anonymous
Post 04/25/2017 22:31     Subject: Report card reading level - Early Elementary
My kid spent all of 2nd Grade at the same reading level because the 2nd Grade teacher thought the 1st Grade teacher had assessed too high but 2nd Grade teacher did not want to move the level down. It made the report cards in 2nd Grade even more useless than normal. But things got back on track in 3rd and are on track now in 4th.
Anonymous
Post 04/25/2017 21:24     Subject: Report card reading level - Early Elementary
This might help answer some of your questions.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/grading/EndOfYearReading-ParentGuide.pdf
Anonymous
Post 04/25/2017 21:24     Subject: Report card reading level - Early Elementary
It doesn't hurt to ask the teacher anyway, OP. However I have found that reading assessments are very subjective and not very helpful.
Anonymous
Post 04/25/2017 21:20     Subject: Report card reading level - Early Elementary
Anonymous wrote:My child's reading level has been at the top of the graph (P), which stops at P, for three quarters. This is "end of 3rd grade" and she is in 2nd. Is she being evaluated as stagnant, or do they just not adjust the graph? She told me her latest books are R. I'm confused, and the teacher is no help so I'm not going to bother her when I'm 90% sure I won't get an answer (she's pretty checked out).


They do update the graph -- once a child tests above a P there will be a line beneath the graph that says "Your child's instructional reading level is R" (for example). So the teacher is providing "P" as your child's reading level. So that could mean he/she is testing at a P and being instructed with R level books for a specific unit (which definitely happens). Once the kids get to upper reading levels the pace of improvement is slower because the testing requires a written component, but it seems worth checking in with the teacher if the level has remained the same for the whole year. Honestly the m-class seems pretty subjective and it's up to the teacher how they submit the level. I had one kid where the teacher submitted the tested reading level for the report card and another where the teacher submitted the instructional level, which was higher. Also, apparently m-class caps out at level Q. Once they hit 3rd it's more objective because they use MAP-R scores.
Anonymous
Post 04/25/2017 20:55     Subject: Report card reading level - Early Elementary
My child's reading level has been at the top of the graph (P), which stops at P, for three quarters. This is "end of 3rd grade" and she is in 2nd. Is she being evaluated as stagnant, or do they just not adjust the graph? She told me her latest books are R. I'm confused, and the teacher is no help so I'm not going to bother her when I'm 90% sure I won't get an answer (she's pretty checked out).