19:56 so how do they figure out a 3rd and 4th graders reading level then?

Anonymous wrote:For newbie, this might be helpful:
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/english/elementary/7keystextlevels.pdf

I have a third grader. I am not sure even what level he is on. He scored high 220s on the MAP-R. Can you convert MAP-R to reading level? I almost got the impression they don't worry as much about the reading level any more but the scores. Even though he has been capped in the past, he is still learning. I do find it interesting that this does not seem to happen at all schools.

My child's kindergarten teacher told me that there's too much focus on the reading levels. The key is to get your kids interested in reading at this age so let them pick whatever book they want. I actually like that she lets the kids choose which library books to take home each week (they don't take home leveled readers). Since my child is choosing which books to take home, she actually looks forward to reading them every night.

PP here whose child was at an x at the end of third grade. He scored 233 on Map-R. I think the letter still matters. At his fourth grade conference the teacher only reported the letter, not the Map score.

For newbie, this might be helpful:
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/english/elementary/7keystextlevels.pdf

I have a third grader. I am not sure even what level he is on. He scored high 220s on the MAP-R. Can you convert MAP-R to reading level? I almost got the impression they don't worry as much about the reading level any more but the scores. Even though he has been capped in the past, he is still learning. I do find it interesting that this does not seem to happen at all schools.

Unfortunately, at our school, the reading groups do cap. I have seen it every year now.

3rd grade does not cap. My child was at an X.

A newbie here.

Can anyone please clue me in as to where I can find the definition of reading levels? What is level 4??

It's actually not an assumption; it's the truth. He is being parked in a reading group and reading in a level that is below where he tested, and it is the same level that his group was reading last year. This is due to the levels being capped, and the fact that there are only three reading groups in his class, and this is true for at least several kids in his group.

Anonymous wrote:I find it really sad that kids are just being parked in reading groups with no challenge while they wait for other kids to catch up with them. From what I hear, this varies from school to school. Some MCPS schools/teachers will do a reading group with just one kid, while others have a set number of reading group. In my son's 3rd grade class there are only three reading groups.

If your child is reading at level T, and the other children are reading at level R, then your kid is just being parked in a reading group with no challenge? That's a big assumption.

I find it really sad that kids are just being parked in reading groups with no challenge while they wait for other kids to catch up with them. From what I hear, this varies from school to school. Some MCPS schools/teachers will do a reading group with just one kid, while others have a set number of reading group. In my son's 3rd grade class there are only three reading groups.

2nd grade testing maxes out at R. But if there aren't enough kids to justify a reading group then the child at the higher level keeps getting lower level instruction

PP, yes. This is the case at our school. Cap in K was 16 (they would not test past no matter how well the kid wrote). Not sure of 1st, but cap in 2nd was P or Q. It was pretty frustrating at the time, I guess looking back it wasn't a big deal since my kid was happy. Only in 3rd grade with the open ended MAP-R test did we get a true estimate where my child was at reading-wise.

My son is in third grade and has been in the highest reading group every year, but at his school, there seems to be a cap where they don't let kids go beyond one year above grade level, regardless of their reading or writing ability. Every year I have watched other kids move up to his group (the top group) but he and the other kids who were already there don't seem to be allowed to move up or have anywhere to go. Has anyone else experienced this?

To piggyback on what other posters have said - at the parent/teacher conference last week, the teacher said that my son (kindergartener) was reading at a level 15-16 and that there are 5 other kids in his reading group level. So they definitely do test higher than a 4. She also said what other posters had mentioned - after level 16 they cannot progress without written comprehension so that she is working with the children on their writing so that they can continue to progress in their reading levels but that it's not uncommon for children to fall back because of the writing requirement.