... First, the kids are encouraged to read within their appropriate levels, so it is NOT forced into grade level. This is good. And our school does have oodles of tests.
I just found out this week that DS is getting a one-on-one math slot during our "response to intervention" window, so I'm extremely happy and optimistic at the moment. This is in addition to his pretty good accelerated placement.
So...for him to "suck it up" a bit and get his quarterly points is NOT that big a deal with the big picture in mind. There are both appropriate AND challenging books that he can test on. Our problem is primarily that these are not the books (also appropriate and challening) that he wants to read. Given the olden days of "all 6th graders read XYZ", I really can't complain.
But in the spirit of the GIEP team, I do have plans to address this in the near future. I'm fortunate to say that my school has been very cooperative this year.
Please don't misunderstand me. I agree, Dottie et al, that the concept of AR is fine. My problem is with the practice in Mamabear's DD's case. THEY DON'T HAVE ENOUGH BOOKS AND TESTS AT HER DD'S LEVEL! That's a serious problem! And they refuse to adapt to fix the serious problem.
This is not a problem with AR, but with the bureaucracy of that particular school. This is what is steaming me.
AR itself seems like a pretty decent program, and I never intended to criticize it. But a progem only works if the school has the resources to use it with the actual kids it has. If a kid doesn't fit the program, then something has to give, and it shouldn't be the kid!
Programs should fit kids, kids shouldn't be squeezed to fit programs!
