Because principals put a lot if pressure on teachers to improve their students writing skills in preparation for the parcc

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They really need to purchase another reading comprehension test. Writing should not be linked to reading comprehension. It isn't on the SAT, the ACT, or the GRE. The current assessment takes too long to administer and because it is administered one on one, it takes away from whole class and small group instructional time.

But it is basically the entirety of PARCC. They need to respond in writing to various passages to demonstrate comprehension. Math too.

The PARCC is called English Language Arts and is made up of reading and answering primarily multiple choice questions and writing, in response to a passage the student read. And students don't start taking PARCC until 3rd grade so why tue reading comprehension to writing in first and second grade?

My kid has been assessed at a level 16 since the beginning of kindergarten (she's in first grade now, so over a year at this level). Her teachers are been clear that it's because of the writing requirements, but are also clear that her writing is age-appropriate and that the writing requirement is not developmentally appropriate at this age. I don't really care what her formal assessed level is, as long as the fact that it's not changing isn't indicative of a problem, and the teachers say it isn't. I know she's advanced in decoding and comprehension (can answer questions orally) but am not surprised the ability to independently write comprehension answers is taking longer to develop. On the plus side,she just brought home a level m book in her reading folder, so her teacher is able to work with her group at higher levels while still working on developing the writing skills. I'm appreciative of teachers who can balance requirements and developmental appropriateness for individual kids.