I'm not sure what a "striver" school district is, but I know that I am not the only parent that is frustrated with the "just right" reading system. The tone of the letter that came home with the book sounded a bit defensive to me. I guess I just don't really understand what the motivation is to keep all kids reading within a set band of reading levels in a grade. Why does it matter if they want to read higher? I can see if they usually/often/always choose to read at a lower level - perhaps some intervention might be needed... but why deny access to books a that a kid wants to read? Generally speaking, I think a kid would not choose to read books that were too hard for them - so if they are selecting them - they must find something enjoyable about reading them.
When I was in second grade my best friend - who was clearly a much better reader than I was - started reading the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series. I think I can say with a fair degree of certainty, that this would have been outside of my approved reading level. But - since she was reading them, I wanted to too - and I loved them. I think they were probably too hard for me - but what was the harm - I am sure they made me a better reader over time. But in our district, a second grader would not be allowed to read Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, since it is reading level O and second graders are only allowed to read to level N.
When I have asked about this in the past the teachers just shrug their shoulders and say there is nothing they can do- it is "district policy". As I mentioned, last year we had a teacher who gave the middle finger to district policy - so dd8 could read as she desired.
I am not really sure what to do. One day she finished the assigned book she was given in school - so I let her read the non-teacher approved book for her 30 minutes - and wrote it in her reading log. What was I supposed to do? She had no reading - and I have a hard time giving the kid junk reading. The next night she got 5 minutes of reading, so I let her read the non-teacher approved book for 25 minutes. The next day, the teacher sent home a "readers digest", 3rd grade version of the non-teacher approved book - which she read on the bus. Way to ruin the ending. I guess I am just trying to see things from her perspective... Am I just some pushy parent trying to force their kid to read "too hard" books? Is she afraid that she can get in trouble for not enforcing the "district policy"? I am afraid that this might be the type of teacher who might punish a child for not following the rules - so I am torn between advocacy and fake compliance.
