Gifted Education Committee English Presentation from 6/4/24

[Tulasi Leonard Tantillo]

For those who were interested in the MCCPTA Gifted Education Committee’s June 4 call about enriched English opportunities for MCPS middle and high school students, please see the below email and attached slides. 


Begin forwarded message:

From: "Susanna Montezemolo, MCCPTA Gifted Education Committee" <Gif...@mccpta.org>
Date: June 10, 2024 at 9:15:03 PM EDT
To: "Susanna Montezemolo, MCCPTA Gifted Education Committee" <Gif...@mccpta.org>
Cc: "Evelyn Chung, MCCPTA VP of Educational Issues" <vpedu...@mccpta.org>, "Evelyn Chung, MCCPTA Curriculum Committee" <Curri...@mccpta.org>
Subject: GEC - Secondary English Presentation from 6/4/24



Hello everyone --

I have attached the presentation from last week's meeting on secondary English. MCCPTA would very much appreciate it if you could share information on what your child's English class has learned this year; please fill out this middle school survey and/or this high school survey as appropriate. I'm also pasting in our middle school and high school alerts below. Finally, if you are interested in volunteering with GEC, please email gif...@mccpta.org. 

Thank you!

Cheers,

Susanna

Susanna Montezemolo

Chair, Gifted Education Committee

MCCPTA

GEC Alert: Middle School Enriched Novel Studies

Background: MCPS’s Office of Accelerated and Enriched Instruction, in collaboration with the secondary English team, has created new enriched novel studies for use with the middle school StudySync curriculum in all middle school grades. Each grade level has 1 or more enriched novel studies available each quarter. These optional enriched novel studies provide challenge for students who are performing above grade level. They are different from the base novel studies offered to all students. The base novel studies are at or below grade level and are not appropriate for advanced learners. 

Ask for parents of grade 5 and middle-school students: Please contact the English Content Specialist at your child’s middle school to request that in each marking period next year, one of the ENRICHED novel studies be offered to students who have been identified for enrichment. 

The enriched novel studies provide an opportunity for students working above grade level to be challenged. Importantly, MCPS central office staff has also said that schools can create cohorts of students working above grade level to ensure that enriched novel studies can be offered in a given class. They also made clear that families must advocate for these enriched novel studies to ensure that schools order the appropriate books and that teachers use them as intended.     

GEC Alert: High School Honors English

Please email key MCPS staff and Board of Education members to ask MCPS to create an Honors English framework to ensure that texts and tasks are on or above grade level.

Background: MCPS is implementing a new 9th grade English curriculum guide next year. The guide, developed by MCPS curriculum specialists, enables teachers to select readings and paired activities from an approved list–some of which are well below grade level or even for struggling readers. Depending on teacher choice, students in honors classes could work with a substantial amount of below-grade level content. Most MCPS high schools only offer Honors English 9. The Gifted Education Committee is concerned that the needs of above-grade level students will not be met.

Example: According to MCPS, in the English 9A pilot survey, more than one-third of teachers said they chose to teach The Magic Fish in Q1, a middle-school graphic novel with Lexile level of HL400L intended for struggling readers. More than half said they chose All American Boys,  with a Lexile level of HL770L, also intended for struggling readers. Meanwhile, virtually no one said they selected the most challenging book option, A Separate Peace, with a Lexile level of 1030L. The 9th grade Lexile band is 1050L-1260L.

Ask: Please email the people below to request a curriculum framework that lays out requirements for an honors section. Some points you may want to make are included:

• MCPS regulation IOA-RA and Maryland Code COMAR 13A.04.07 state that MCPS must ensure the needs of highly able students are met.
• MCPS must make clear what material must be covered in Honors English classes, particularly Honors English 9 and Honors English 10. A framework should articulate the readings and tasks that are required for Honors English courses to ensure that it is appropriately challenging and implemented equitably across schools.
• Honors classes should feature texts and tasks that are above grade level to ensure that advanced students are challenged and improve their analytical reading and writing skills. 
• It is critical that the Honors English 9 framework be created now to ensure that it is in place for the 2024-2025 school year when the updated English 9 curriculum is used.
• The updated English 9 curriculum has options that are below grade level and are too slowly paced for an honors class. Providing teachers with choice of texts and tasks means that even in honors classes, students could face substantial below-grade level instruction and pacing.

We also encourage you to share stories about your student's experience in high school Honors English  and suggest you have your child email and consider testifying before the BOE.

E-mail addresses

To email everyone at once:

Niki_T...@mcpsmd.org, Kisha...@mcpsmd.org. Irina_L...@mcpsmd.org, Kristie...@mcpsmd.org, Karla_S...@mcpsmd.org, Julie...@mcpsmd.org, Lynne_...@mcpsmd.org, Graciela_R...@mcpsmd.org 

If you can email people individually: 

Niki Hazel, Associate Superintendent: Niki_T...@mcpsmd.org 

Kisha Logan, Director of PK-12 Curriculum: Kisha...@mcpsmd.org  

Irina Lagrange, Director overseeing the Office of Accelerated and Enriched Instruction (AEI): Irina_L...@mcpsmd.org  

Kristie Clark, Supervisor, AEI: Kristie...@mcpsmd.org 

Karla Silvestre, Board of Education Chair: Karla_S...@mcpsmd.org 

Julie Yang, Board of Education Special Populations Committee Chair: Julie...@mcpsmd.org  

Lynne Harris, Board of Education Special Populations Committee Member: Lynne_...@mcpsmd.org  

Grace Rivera-Oven, Board of Education Special Populations Committee Member: Graciela_R...@mcpsmd.org