PP is correct that different schools in MCPS have very different policies about what a child needs to master to advance and whether they will impose a maximum level for certain grades. This is determined by the principal, reading specialist and homeroom teachers at the individual schools.

However, all of MCPS uses the same assessment to measure reading level. In K-2 they use something called mclass and starting at grade 3 they use map-r.

In the lower levels, where most kindergarteners are, the focus of the test is mostly on decoding which is why some of you may find that your child may be having difficulty with some of the words at your child's instructional reading level.

But when you hit higher levels, like the late 1st grade benchmarks, the focus switches to comprehension. This is probably why some of you think the books your children are getting are "too easy." At even higher levels, 2nd grade or so, there's a writing component that you have to pass before you can go to the next level so if your child is a great reader but can't write you'll feel like there's an even bigger gap between what your child is reading at home and what she's working on in class.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again. Clearly I need to talk to the teacher. Thank you all for info!

I think you do. I had no clue how the reading groups worked (except my kid complained the books are too easy) and I finally just asked the teacher. It sounds like different schools do it differently, so you're not going to get a definitive answer on DCUM.

Ah yes, but for the early dyslexic reader, they need explicit instruction in how to identify whether there is a long/short vowel sound, and practice blending and segmenting letter sounds. Now that he has had appropriate instruction (for him), DS can actually explain WHY a word sounds like it does -- "it's a closed syllable so that means it will be a short vowel sound, but if it had an "e" on the end it would change to a long vowel sound." DS has a sibling who was an early reader and is now in high school. To this day she can't explain why words sound the way they do, to her they just do.

I'm not disputing that what you say is true for the early dyslexic reader, but I don't think it that indicates that every kid who has trouble with this issue at age 5 is necessarily dyslexic.

Not sure I would jump to dyslexia at this point. My son did a lot of guessing in K and now is a good reader. Something clicked at the end of K. He could read level 4 books midway through K though I think.