Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 4th grade DC is (definitely) not testing at literacy capacity on the MAP-R. I'm planning to talk with the relevant teacher, of course, but are there any parent tips for helping channel literacy skills into better test outcomes?

Is there a particular reason why you're focused on the test score? I think the question you should be asking is what you can do to boost your DC's literacy skills, not how to best channel them into a meaningless standardized test unless you're hell-bent on qualifying for the CES lottery or something.

Stop being a jerk. OP’s kid can TV even qualify for CES with a 4th grade MAP-R score.

True but I don't think they look at MAP-R for the stem magnet. You just need to be in the top 15% for your schools FARM band to make the lottery pool.

Why do you post something you don’t know is true?

Wouldn't it be nice if MCPS was transparent about this process instead of the smoke and mirrors process it uses now?

They have stated this many times. I'm not sure how they can be more transparent about it.

OP here: thank you for all of the advice. I agree that the lottery is limited-chance, but my interest is driven by DC's interest. They would rather aim for it and try, with the understanding that our home middle is still a good backup plan. I think Spectrum would help: DC is much stronger in writing, syntax, and vocabulary (for example) than in inference, and intentional practice on comprehension will at a minimum reiterate the (interrelated) goals of not rushing and of thinking things through.

PP here -- I will say that MAP-R is way harder to go up even a few percentiles than MAP-M. From my experience, it's very rare a MAP-R score goes up more than 10 points in a school year, especially when they're already at higher MAP-R (90th percentile+).

Agree with PP regarding Spectrum - definitely helps.

However, with an 85th percentile MAP-R, depending on which school you go to, could very well qualify them for the lottery. If you are at a W school, you'll likely have to be 95th percentile+, but if you're at a High FARMS school, the cutoff will be lower.

Anonymous wrote:OP, don't put too much pressure on the kid. 85th percentile is high, and the chances you get into a middle school magnet even with 99th percentile is really low.

true

I have found that the Spectrum reading and writing books follow the MCPS curriculum pretty closely. (I discovered these books when I homeschooled my kids during the pandemic).
I also have a 4th grader and he is working on the 5th grade level books. I think it has helped him with his MAP-R tests.
However, I have another child who is an avid reader. She doesn't do any of these workbook and scores higher on the MAP-R than her brother.

Spectrum Reading Comprehension Grade 5 Workbooks, Ages 10 to 11, 5th Grade Reading Comprehension, Nonfiction and Fiction Passages, Summarizing Stories and Identifying Themes - 174 Pages (Volume 59) https://a.co/d/4zormP4

Spectrum 5th Grade Writing Workbooks, Ages 10 to 11, Grade 5 Writing, Informative, Persuasive, News Report, Article, and Story Writing Prompts, Writing Practice for Kids - 136 Pages https://a.co/d/7llFk5a

Anonymous wrote:OP here. DC wants to enter the middle school magnet lottery (the program itself is a strong match for their specific interests) and has the grades and the skills but not the MAP-R scores. Right now they are at around 85%. I have my own ideas about specific areas for improvement but don't know enough about the test itself to help.

Advocate for better identification methodologies than their current misutilization of MAP-R.

And encourage the more challenging reading, etc., of course.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to read widely, and they need to read something a little more elevated and complex, both in language and concepts, than beginner books.

This takes time, and it's not something that can rapidly improve.

Don't get too excited for one outcome - there are several. My kid, who has always scores within the 99th percentile, was not picked for the magnet after she was in-pool. She's done well in her home school, and we are enriching outside of school to prepare her for all advanced courses in high school. She actually already goes to her high school for math classes that are not available at her middle school.

Why are you posting about math when OP is asking about reading?

Because most often, smart kids aren't just good at reading or math. Their intelligence makes them advanced students in every subject. So I want to inform OP of possibilities at her home school, since the regrettable decision by MCPS not to nurture creation of enough magnet program seats over the past decades to meet the need (by a long shot), resulting in the short-sighted, budgetary convenience-driven, underlaid-by-a-nuance-of-GT-disparagement-and-a-misunderstanding-of-situational-equity decision to create a lottery for its magnet schools.

Fixed it for ya.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 4th grade DC is (definitely) not testing at literacy capacity on the MAP-R. I'm planning to talk with the relevant teacher, of course, but are there any parent tips for helping channel literacy skills into better test outcomes?

Is there a particular reason why you're focused on the test score? I think the question you should be asking is what you can do to boost your DC's literacy skills, not how to best channel them into a meaningless standardized test unless you're hell-bent on qualifying for the CES lottery or something.

Stop being a jerk. OP’s kid can TV even qualify for CES with a 4th grade MAP-R score.

True but I don't think they look at MAP-R for the stem magnet. You just need to be in the top 15% for your schools FARM band to make the lottery pool.

Why do you post something you don’t know is true?

Wouldn't it be nice if MCPS was transparent about this process instead of the smoke and mirrors process it uses now?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to read widely, and they need to read something a little more elevated and complex, both in language and concepts, than beginner books.

This takes time, and it's not something that can rapidly improve.

Don't get too excited for one outcome - there are several. My kid, who has always scores within the 99th percentile, was not picked for the magnet after she was in-pool. She's done well in her home school, and we are enriching outside of school to prepare her for all advanced courses in high school. She actually already goes to her high school for math classes that are not available at her middle school.

Why are you posting about math when OP is asking about reading?

Because most often, smart kids aren't just good at reading or math. Their intelligence makes them advanced students in every subject. So I want to inform OP of possibilities at her home school, since the regrettable decision by MCPS to create a lottery for its magnet schools.

Anonymous wrote:They need to read widely, and they need to read something a little more elevated and complex, both in language and concepts, than beginner books.

This takes time, and it's not something that can rapidly improve.

Don't get too excited for one outcome - there are several. My kid, who has always scores within the 99th percentile, was not picked for the magnet after she was in-pool. She's done well in her home school, and we are enriching outside of school to prepare her for all advanced courses in high school. She actually already goes to her high school for math classes that are not available at her middle school.

Why are you posting about math when OP is asking about reading?