Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is so much better now in ES and MS that they have CKLA. We endured C2.0, Benchmark, and Study Sync -- they were all awful. But there is a marked difference with a strong curriculum. But of course, it doesn't mean that kids shouldn't read on their own -- they aboslutely should.

+1. Getting my oldest to read at home in early ES was so painful and frustrating because he was not learning to read in school. He's a much better reader now but it wasn't as simple as "have your kids read," I had to supplement to teach him HOW. My youngest is actually learning to read in school so she can practice those skills at home. Night and day.

Why didn't your kid start to learn to read before kindergarten? The home has words all over.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid needed to told to read at home, they were never going to be very bright to begin with.

Really? I can't read or write. My kids don't read or write more than school requires. We are doing very well in life.
All we need is great mental and physical health, good work ethic, basic math skills, an investment account, and good friends.

Basic math skills? All you need are good looks and physical strength and coordination.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid needed to told to read at home, they were never going to be very bright to begin with.

Really? I can't read or write. My kids don't read or write more than school requires. We are doing very well in life.
All we need is great mental and physical health, good work ethic, basic math skills, an investment account, and good friends.

You run your computer/phone on voice input/output? You speak with grammar that follows written conventions? Or you ask ChatGPT to write forum replies?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am overloaded as a parent as are many of you. I saw a stat that most Americans read at below an 8th grade level- many are at a 6th grade level or lower. I then panicked when I found out late to the game that MCPS has been a complete shit show for reading, including not using instructional materials based on the science of reading and having students read below grade level texts.

I started mandating reading at home, because I was worried that my kids would not progress beyond 8th grade- despite having both parents who went to grad school.

No more graphic novels at home and reading at least 2 hours a week of grade level or higher texts. In a few months, DS had read more books at home then for all of middle school.

It's sad that mcps cannot be trusted to do the basics but here we are.

This post seems repetitive of others. I'm convinced there is a troll at there trying to make trouble.

Exactly what trouble is being started by the suggestion that children be encouraged to read outside of school? What’s next, making their bed?! Where will it all end?

The average person just isn't so book-smart. 12th grade education is a very modern invention, and dr-vocationalized high school is even more modern.

I don't "have my kids read" because my kids read all the time until I tell them to stop.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree, but banning graphic novels is not the smartest move. It was the transition for my then 8 yr old son to go from not reading, to reading voraciously.

No one is banning anything. Kids can read anything in their own time! Also, an 8 YO is not a 14-15 year old. People are complaining about having a graphic novel as the only full-length book read in MP1 in honors English 9..

DP. OP said "no more graphic novels at home" which sounds like banning them as pleasure reading and not letting kids read anything in their own time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid needed to told to read at home, they were never going to be very bright to begin with.

Really? I can't read or write. My kids don't read or write more than school requires. We are doing very well in life.
All we need is great mental and physical health, good work ethic, basic math skills, an investment account, and good friends.

If you could read, you'd see that I said they won't be very bright, not that they won't have good friends or physical health.

Anonymous wrote:If your kid needed to told to read at home, they were never going to be very bright to begin with.

Really? I can't read or write. My kids don't read or write more than school requires. We are doing very well in life.
All we need is great mental and physical health, good work ethic, basic math skills, an investment account, and good friends.

Anonymous wrote:It is so much better now in ES and MS that they have CKLA. We endured C2.0, Benchmark, and Study Sync -- they were all awful. But there is a marked difference with a strong curriculum. But of course, it doesn't mean that kids shouldn't read on their own -- they aboslutely should.

+1. Getting my oldest to read at home in early ES was so painful and frustrating because he was not learning to read in school. He's a much better reader now but it wasn't as simple as "have your kids read," I had to supplement to teach him HOW. My youngest is actually learning to read in school so she can practice those skills at home. Night and day.

Anonymous wrote:I agree, but banning graphic novels is not the smartest move. It was the transition for my then 8 yr old son to go from not reading, to reading voraciously.

No one is banning anything. Kids can read anything in their own time! Also, an 8 YO is not a 14-15 year old. People are complaining about having a graphic novel as the only full-length book read in MP1 in honors English 9..

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:P.S. The real problems now in English are in H.S. That's by far the weakest link. They are reading books in the 9th grade MCPS-written "honors" curriculum that are part of the 4th grade CKLA curriculum.

Part of the reason for this is because those "stronger" links are auto-promoting kids up to HS despite them not being able to fully grasp the concepts of an age appropriate HS level. If we didn't teach below grade level in 9th grade the retention rate for HS freshmen would be staggering and unacceptable.

I would love to be able to teach a more rigorous and appropriate curriculum in 9th grade but I also don't want to send 60% of my students to summer school their first year because that is how you create HS drop outs.

So it's better to keep teaching below grade-level standards up and through graduation? Who does that serve? Not the kids who graduate without the basic skills a public education is supposed to afford them.

I feel it is better to use Freshman year as an adjustment period to prepare them for a more rigorous and grade appropriate curriculum in 10th-12th grades. Freshman year is the first time most if not all of these students will face real academic consequences and it doesn't seem right to throw them into the deep end and hope they can stay afloat. If you make these kids hate high school from the get-go then you have potentially lost them and likely won't get them back.

Then there need to be two courses. On-level can effectively be remedial for kids who can’t do grade-level work, and honors can be the on-level course. 8th graders this year are getting challenge finally and they are going to go backwards next year in English 9. That’s not serving anyone.

Anonymous wrote:I am overloaded as a parent as are many of you. I saw a stat that most Americans read at below an 8th grade level- many are at a 6th grade level or lower. I then panicked when I found out late to the game that MCPS has been a complete shit show for reading, including not using instructional materials based on the science of reading and having students read below grade level texts.

I started mandating reading at home, because I was worried that my kids would not progress beyond 8th grade- despite having both parents who went to grad school.

No more graphic novels at home and reading at least 2 hours a week of grade level or higher texts. In a few months, DS had read more books at home then for all of middle school.

It's sad that mcps cannot be trusted to do the basics but here we are.

Oh shut up if you can not parent correctly that is on you

What do you think kids in Alabama do in the worst school system in the US?

MCPS teaches kids to read cognitively that is why we have an educated population in MD and are still a blue state!

Why the hell did you have kids ?

Take your kids to a dam library oh wait you are too lazy to read with your kids every night. You are too lazy to discuss the books they are reading in school.

My father had a HS education and a low paying mechanic job where he worked 6 days a week to support us. He found the time to read to us suggest books and take us to book stores.

This is not an MCPS problem it is a you problem.

I had six kids and countless nieces and nephews go through MCOS it does a great job!

MCPS is a large school system it has to meet a ton of needs but it is dam well better than any red state

I'm going to give a piece of advice about raising readers based on my experience:

You need to read to your kids way more, and way longer, than most people do. You also need to start reading them novel length books earlier.

Most MC and UMC parents read to their kids nightly until school age. But they mostly read picture books, and the tendency is to stop reading on e kids can read a picture book themselves, around K. They might still "read together" but the focus will be on encouraging the child to read to them. I actually think pushing kids to read aloud to parents is when many kids stop enjoying books, because reading aloud is much harder than just reading, and especially for a new reader, it can feel like a chore.

Instead, I would encourage parents to continue to read to their kids, and to start reading chapter books as soon as their kid can tolerate it (choose extremely engaging books so that the lack of pictures will bother them less, and the excitement will sustain interest over multiple nights as you read).

And then keep reading. If you read good, engaging novels to kids, they will develop an interest in reading no matter what. Yes you also separately have to support reading skills. If they aren't getting proper phonics instruction in school, do a program like Hooked on Phonics at home. They need 10-15 minutes a day, minimum, of phonics instruction until it clicks. But that's different from reading for pleasure, and if you want your kids to read independently for pleasure, you have to read to them in a way that shows them how mature, more advanced books can be pleasurable.

I would read TO your kids as long as possible, all the way through elementary ideally. Even after you stop reading to them, I'd suggest keeping up the habit of reading together, and spending 20-30 minutes each evening as a family reading in the same room, even if you are all reading different books. No screens except a e-book reader.

This is what it takes.

Anonymous wrote:P.S. The real problems now in English are in H.S. That's by far the weakest link. They are reading books in the 9th grade MCPS-written "honors" curriculum that are part of the 4th grade CKLA curriculum.

4th grade ckla uses The Outsiders and Of Mice and Men? That seems…questionable at best.

If your kid needed to told to read at home, they were never going to be very bright to begin with.