Update -- 2nd grade situation

neverblushed

Thanks to all who replied to my situation with my son's 2nd grade classroom.  I have more to report!

I think I'm going to keep my mouth shut about the spelling mistakes, at least for now.  There's no way to bring it up without sounding like a jerk and alienating the teacher.

Reading groups were established in my son's class on Monday of this week, but I think he might be assigned to the wrong level or something.  He's not with any of the kids from his group last year.

Basically, the way it works in his school is that they test the kids, then look at the reading levels and attempt to make groups that allow kids to remain in their own classrooms, if possible.  If there are outliers in the class, they are usually gathered with others of a similar level from across the grade and given to one of the teachers.  If there are enough kids of a similar level in the classroom to make a group, they stay with their own teacher.  So, if you're on the top end of the grade or the bottom, you're more likely to have to change rooms for reading simply because you're probably an outlier.

My son has always been in the top group in both K and 1st, with basically the same group of kids both years.  I have never gotten a report from his teacher indicating that he was struggling.  In fact, his report card grades and the narrative reports from his 1st grade reading teacher indicated steady improvement, especially with his writing.  His reading level, when tested in May of first grade was high-3rd/low-4th.

So, when he said he was in a group in his current classroom with NO kids from last year's reading group, I was a little curious but not too worried.  Just to make sure, I wrote to his teacher to ask whether these reading groups were definite and to say that I was curious as to why he wasn't with the same group from last year.  She wrote back a nice email explaining how they form the groups (basically what I said 2 paragraphs above this one.)  She didn't mention reading level.  I replied and said, "Thanks for the explanation.  I'm not really concerned about whether or not he's with the same kids or teacher as last year.  What I want to confirm is that he's still in an above-grade-level group, as he was in 1st grade.  Please let me know whether this is the case."

I sent that email yesterday morning before school, and I haven't heard back from her yet.  Two full work days have passed.  Now, maybe she's just busy.  But I'm guessing there's more to it than that.  

I'm going to write back to her tomorrow, if I haven't heard anything by late morning.  It will have been 48 hours with no reply.  The school's policy is that teachers will reply to emails within 48 hours. 

jlw2505

Just a question, do they retest the kids for the reading groups at the beginning of each school year and use that to place to the kids or do they just go off the information from the year before?  Only asking because maybe some of the kids from his group last year really took off with their reading and are now reading at a higher level than your child who may be a great reader but just not above average anymore?  I know there is a huge time frame of when kids pick up things like reading and some will level off at a point while others keep reading at above age level.  I am sure the teacher has him placed in the correct group and I would assume (or at least hope) that if they find he is in the wrong group later on, that they can adjust the groups.

Andrewsgal

auntie:

What's the socioeconomic climate of your school like?
At DS's elementary, a second grader at early 4th would not be unusual; an outlier would be the kid at grade level or one who was reading/writing at the end of 6th grade. Of course, my district has a significant number of 7th grade kiddos taking math and science at the high school.

i agree with this DD is in kinder and reading at the end of a first grade level, I would expect her to be about a 4 th grade level by second grade. This is not uncommon for our school. I think you need to back off and let the teacher do her job.

outnumbered

Andrewsgal:

auntie:

What's the socioeconomic climate of your school like? At DS's elementary, a second grader at early 4th would not be unusual; an outlier would be the kid at grade level or one who was reading/writing at the end of 6th grade. Of course, my district has a significant number of 7th grade kiddos taking math and science at the high school.

i agree with this DD is in kinder and reading at the end of a first grade level, I would expect her to be about a 4 th grade level by second grade. This is not uncommon for our school. I think you need to back off and let the teacher do her job.

I do not think it is uncommon for 2nd grade students to be reading at that level.  My daughter is reading at the fourth grade level or higher and she is not unusual in our school system.  I think it is might be in fourth grade where the students who struggle catch up to the 'advanced' readers and there are fewer outliers.

neverblushed

In good news, the teacher finally responded, and he's in an above-grade level reading group, working at the same level where he left off last year -- whew! 

As to the socio-economic status of the school: I would say that the number of kids reading a year above grade level in primary grades would be about 40% of the kids. When you get to 2 years or more above grade level, it goes down to about 10% of the kids. It's an affluent county in the suburbs of Washington, DC. 

To be clear, my concern is not about whether my DS should be in a G/T program or whether or not he's somehow superior to his classmates.  I just know that he was in the very highest group last year and that he's not with those kids this year.  That means one of two things:  either there's more than one group at that level this year (which turned out to be the case) or that there was a mistake somewhere and my kid is not in the right level.  

We do have a magnet program for elementary students in my school district.  It starts in 4th grade.  My DD has been enrolled in it since she was in 4th.  It's for kids who are working at more than a year above grade level.  With my DD, it was clear all along that she needed a program like that.  It's hard to tell at this point whether DS will be a candidate for this program, which is very competitive.  Regular old "above grade" may suit his needs just fine.  

That being said, my fear was that he wasn't even in an above-grade-level group.  When the teacher didn't write back for 2 days, I was envisioning the worst.