Is the Curriculum at Your Childs School Too Hard, Too Easy, or Just Right ??

You noticed that about half the class is below where they should be -- that's correct. Because that means the other half is at or above. That describes a curriculum that teaches to the average. My kids tested in the 99th percentile for reading every year, and they are bored out of their minds. It's not the fault of the school, but the school does try to find alternative assignments for them. But if the classroom curriculum taught only to those 12, my kids would absolutely hate school. Meanwhile, my daughter struggles in math. It's not the school's fault, because she has kids in her class that are advanced in math. She's on the low end of average. So it's up to the school to be patient and help her and up to us as parents to find support for her -- so now I take her for tutoring once a week.

You wouldn't have remembered kids struggling in school because most kids won't tell their friends about it -- that's not what recess and playdates are for at that age. But when classrooms have 20-30 kids per room, about half will be below average and about half will be above. And if the kids are going to advance, the curriculum should always be slightly above average.

Our schools have been implementing a strategy called RTI (response to intervention) for the past few years. I don't spend time in the classrooms so I can't say how it actually gets implemented. The goal is to differentiate instruction as much as possible in classrooms of 20+ kids. There are more assessments given in reading, spelling and math now at the beginning of the year and every month - they look like the routine tests and quizzes that the kids have but the scores are put in a computer and analyzed to basically spit out a report of who is on track, ahead or behind in each subject area. The teacher can then mix up the small group instruction to make sure that kids are landing in the right level throughout the year. With learning being so inconsistent among kids at this age (some struggle for a while and then everything clicks and they're off and running, some start out ahead of the curve but slow down as the material gets more difficult, etc.) the monthly checkpoints make sure that kids aren't tracked as advanced, average and needs help early in the year and then stay there.

OK all that said...children can still understand things like plot, setting and character even if the mechanics of reading are not fully developed. I would imagine that for those children, they would read with an adult and then think about what they read. The actual reading doesn't have to precede introducing the basics of reading comprehension. The curriculum HAS to move forward even for kids who can't read yet - otherwise those kids would get bored to death too, working on nothing but their failure point. My oldest son has LDs and couldn't read at the low end of his grade level until the end of 2nd grade but he was still expected to engage in reading comprehension, writing exercises, etc.

I have also been a substitute teacher over 10 yrs and there are always some students below average. Some are very capable of doing the work but they just don't sit still or daydream.

I had a child in 3rd grade the other day who wrote 1 sentence in 30 minutes. Everytime I looked toward her, she was staring into the ceiling or something and in another world. Yet, when it came time for teacher table instruction, she knew the answers and how to solve the problems.

We have to move at a good pace but be able to continue to instruct the slower finishers and have the early finishers move on to another part of the lesson. It is a balance, especially in elementary school. In first grade, testing is done to see who is truly a slower finisher and then supplemental help is done for those children such as afterschool tutoring, sometimes they are pulled from the classroom for one on one with a teacher, etc.

It is a great help when parent volunteers are in the room to assist with basics such as computer, questions, etc while the teacher can focus on teacher table work. I am sure your children's teachers appreciate what you do!! I sure do when I am in the classroom.

My son's curriculum is too, too easy! The teacher actually gives the advanced kids an extra page of math every week, to keep them challenged, but nothing for language arts.

What's the name of your 1st grade reading curriculum? I wish they used it at my son's school.

The curriculum is really set by the state, or really the common core standards that reach across states now. You can look it up on the Michigan.gov site. or just search "common core standards crosswalk"

Even if a child is struggling to read, they still need to understand the basics like plot, characters, etc. Otherwise the rest of the reading will never make sense either because they will never use context clues, predictions, etc. Even in a kindergarten or preschool room they should be working on sequencing, problems, cause and effect, etc. Adjusted to accommodate for their age, of course! Let's not give 5 year olds War and Peace to analyze!!!

Glad to see that you are helping in the classroom. As a teacher, I REALLY appreciate when parents are able to do that! Great job being involved in your children's education! :)

I just have to say that as a high school teacher, I HATE RTI. We've been doing that (differentiating instruction to fit individual students' needs) since I started teaching almost 20 years ago, but now that it has a name, it comes with mountains of paperwork. I had more time to help each individual student before the state came in and called it RTI. Grrrrrrrr!

As for the original curriculum, prior to middle school, it was too easy for my boys. After that, they were able to take advanced classes, and they were challenged a bit more. Some classes were still too easy, some were just right, and one was almost too challenging, but with tutoring my son made it through and ended up learning a ton.

Now my oldest is in high school, and he is able to pick and choose the courses that fit best. My youngest is in third grade, and they have bumped up the curriculum quite a bit since my oldest was there. My third grader is learning quite a bit, but is certainly isn't very challenging for him. There are quite a few children in his class that are really struggling, though.

I teach AP English, and I have students that do very well in my class, students that really have to work hard to do well, and students that drop my class to move to an on-level English class. English just isn't a strength for some kids. Some do better in math or science. At least in middle and high school they have the opportunity to choose the level of difficulty they want/need.

I use k12 for homeschooling. As a whole the program is more advanced then traditional school, but their math is even worse. My biggest complaint is that each day a new technique is being taught and if you didn't understand the days before, your kind lost. Granted I can take hours if I need, but sometimes even that isn't enough.

Same with their phonics program, it is incredibly fast.

It really depends on the child. For my kids the curriculum is too easy. For others I'm sure it is too hard.

I think my problem with our education system is that all of the kids are lumped together based on age. There is a WIDE variaton of skill, knowledge, and ability based on age alone so the top of the class and bottom of the class suffer because the curriculum teaches to the middle.