Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Taking matters into my own hands *update*

Aiden re-did his reading assessment today. The teacher carefully and resolutely told me that he will be staying at his current tested level.

So no maths and reading at a very much lower level.

Tonight I helped him do his own mini project to take to school tomorrow - based on their theme... He googled the Taj Mahal after I told him about it, we found a picture to print and then he chose 4 facts about it to write beneath the picture. Not an essay for sure, but it's a start back to where we were 2 months ago. Once he got into it he was really enjoying it.

I am also making him a reading box, where we will keep his own level books in for him to read whenever he wants. He is quite excited about this and asked if we can do it again tomorrow.

This beats the anger and freak-outs. Now I must just convince DH to let me home school him (you know, cause what I am doing now is nothing like home schooling *insert heavy sarcasm here*)

And was this based on comprehension, speed, Dibels? Obviously he'll be able to read what he wants at home. Is he okay with the lower level at school?

It's a DRA assessment, so it's a combination of speed, accuracy, fluency and comprehension. The level he is at now is where he was written up as ending last year. I have already ascertained that the teacher did not keep her records up to date at the end of the year so this is already false. It has essentially put him back 3 or 4 levels of where he was in November according to them and is about 10 levels down on where he reads at home.

He is not happy; we are supposed to read and re-read the book every day and discuss it - look for visual clues within the story etc too. He said he might read it to the younger boys as a bedtime story but refuses to discuss them.

Bah. The problem with most of these reading assessments the schools use is that their function is to highlight problems. To pin-point children who are behind in reading. They are NOT designed to accurately reflect your child's skill level - especially if they are reading several grade levels above their current grade.

Good luck to you in convincing your hubby. I think mine would have been thrilled if things had worked out so that I was a SAHM and home-schooled our kids (he was raised by a SAHM and was homeschooled), but things didn't work out that way.

For DRA, you can work at home easily to improve his score. DRA is heavily focused on summarizing the plot and requires students to be very specific in details. A kid can jump several reading levels JUST by remembering to use the main character's name several times. While in normal conversation you'd say "Bob went to the store. Then he bought some milk," for DRA you want him to say "Bob went to the store in the afternoon. Then BOB bought some 1% milk." That alone can make a big difference.

The other downside to DRA is that students in 3rd or 4th grade or above are required to write their answers. That works out fine if you're a 4th grader, but if you are a kindergartener reading at a 4th grade level, it's not the same. My son's school agreed to let him keep giving the answers orally until his age matched his reading level :-) Maybe you can work with yours!

Maybe you should suggest to the teacher that he pick something from a higher level and take the test --- just to see what happens, as a "humor me" kind of thing.

Poor lamb, having to read at such an elementary level. That is torture for any child. I'm not familiar with DRA so pardon the silly question, but is this take home reading only? Or is he expected to read at this level in class?

Do you volunteer in his class, have you seen the test administered? Are you comfortable asking for an opportunity to see this test first hand? If you're okay with this then ask. I know I'd want to see it myself before I'd agree to have him go backwards. But I've become That Parent, YMMV.

@ Epoh - that makes so much sense! thank you - I was starting to doubt...

@CAmom - hahaha that is brilliant! I am so going to do that with him... I am usually against "coaching" of any type but in this instance I feel I have to do something before he hates everything to do with school

@Val - that's what we did yesterday, he took his own book in and even read it for her. She administered the test at a higher level too. She didn't tell me his new results, only carefully stated that they are keeping him on level 8 for now.

@Agent99 - we are not allowed to be there for in-class assessments at all. He is one of three in his K class reading (the other two are on lower levels still and initially the teacher wanted to let Aiden wait until the other two catch up to him for group reading!). So the teacher sits with him, reads his old reader and then gives him the new one to take home. He brings it home, reads it to me once - he may stumble over one or two new words occasionally, and then that's that. We wait an entire week for the next reading time slot.

This kind of stuff is a "gotcha" most parents do not see coming.