I dug around in some of my old papers from when I tutored reading. I think I figured out why the first grade teacher demoted DS to a Level L (he was at a O last year). I found a chart showing a BAS CEILING for first grade, mid-year of Level L. Yes, a ceiling. They apparently don't even assess higher than that.
Then I found this board.
http://www.heinemann.com/forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=600I'm annoyed. No wonder the teacher gave me some line about DS needing to "work on comprehension". He probably did just fine on the Level L assessment but they didn't assess higher because that was the BAS ceiling and the district is simply not going to do that. This is a "new" system that was not in place last year, and if the K teacher assessed him it was something she did on her own. Now she is probably being advised that she has to keep her K kids at their BAS ceiling of Level D.
I am going in to talk to his current teacher next week and the principal and curriculum specialist from the district will be there as well. Can anyone advise me? They are just going to tell me that pushing a kid ahead in reading is detrimental to them.
