Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Disastrous, Chaotic, & Shameful

To be clear, in California, kindergarten is not required, although almost all kids do go to kindergarten. In a typical year, from a teacher’s viewpoint, it is very easy within the first few days of first grade for that first grade teacher to identify those who went to kindergarten and those who did not.

The initial “reading” level in kindergarten is level A. Basically everyone starts in level A, and the ideal goal is that they all progress at their own speed gradually into level D. Likewise, E.L.(English learners) also start at A and typically will progress to level C while in school. Keep in mind that this progress is mainly due to the ELs being physically present in school, as they simultaneously attain a beginning grasp of English. Most students will lose a level with summer vacation, and consequently almost all will start first grade at level C. Some will start first grade at D and a few will start at level B (again mainly E.L) In a typical year, none of those who went to kindergarten will start in first grade back at level A. However that is not the case this year as some EL students are still firmly entrenched in level A, now despite Zoom school for over half of the school year. 

While the reading goal in kindergarten is to progress to level D, the goal in first grade is to progress to level J, and in second grade the goal is to progress from J onward and upward. As most are aware reading is the key to learning which in many ways is ultimately related to a relatively successful and fulfilling life. To cut to the chase, if one cannot read, he/she is set up for failure.

Keep in mind that although this includes every child, it is even more critical for those at the lower end of the economic spectrum, and even more so for those whose family speaks a language other than English at home(EL).

Someone I know quite well teaches kindergarten at an inner-city school in a big California city. There are basically three non-swear words that describe her experience this year. Disastrous! Shameful! Chaos!

She has twenty-seven children in her class, and with seven of them, English is not the language spoken at home (EL). When tested last week on Zoom (zero in-person learning), all of these seven EL tested to level A, as there is no lower level, and this teacher doubts that any of them will improve to level B this year. For these kids this is disastrous. Their parents do not understand the instructions for picking up assignments and homework packets, and so they are not picked up. The result is that these kids are getting shafted, and the school system is setting them up to fail. . . . Shameful! Very frequently these same kids miss Zoom school, or if they do manage to get on line, the background in the house is chaos.

In first grade it is more of the same as only a small minority will make it to level J by the end of first grade. Most of the students in this inner-city school are projected to only make it into reading level G by the end of first grade, and even less for EL students. Then etc. for grade two. . . . behind again. What happening is that those who know best in education in California are setting them up to fail.

Zoom school for most kids at the lowest  grade levels is a disastrous, chaotic mess, and especially for the EL group of kids, it is shameful.

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