Social Promotion

[Brian Hornback]

A father appeared before the Knox County School Board on Wednesday August 8, 2007 during public forum. The father was upset because his son had failed the Seventh grade and was still promoted to the Eighth grade.

According to the father, all of the Administrators refused to hold his son back in the Seventh grade.

Should Knox County Schools or any public education system continue to advance students without regard for whether they passed or failed?

[Beth Love]

I'm curious why this happened. Promotions like this are why our system is having to spend time on pursuing grants for programs such as Language X. It is wonderful there are programs like that out there, but then, will we have to fund it later? There are something like 122 9th and 10th graders at Fulton High School that tested into this program that are only reading on a 1st grade level.(There are kids at evey school I'm sure that qualify, but I use that example since I interviewed there and was given this information) Again, why is this happening? If it continues to happen, we end up having to spend big bucks trying to fix the problem when it is almost too late and we have lost another child. That is money that could be spent on other programs. Those are children that could be on the road to being productive adults. We need to teach these kids how to read and write at an appropriate level and not let them slip through the cracks due to political correctness, laziness, NCLB statistics or whatever. I once had a coach come to me and ask me to pass a kid who was a fantastic basketball player, but needed to pass my class to play. Naive as I am, I couldn't believe the guy had the nerve to ask me to do that or the nerve to ruin this kid's future, but it's done all the time. This is also another example of why we have remedial courses in college-absurd!!! Who knows why this is happening?

[Lisa Starbuck]

It seems to me that the school system should consider the wishes of the parent, who should know the child's particular needs best. Especially if a parent wants their child held back after they fail, seems crazy not to, IMO.

[RandomChick]

My eldest daughter, now attending Central High, was not doing well at Gresham Middle in the eight grade. Her father and I warned her that if she didn't get on the ball and start bringing her grades up, she would fail and be held back. A couple of weeks later, she came home and informed us that the guidance counsellor told her that she would not fail -- no matter what.I find it highly disturbing that "no child left behind" has taken to mean "we will fail no child."

[Brian Hornback]

I find it interesting that this policy would be blamed on NCLB. Surely that is not the case.

[Judi Talley]

I see that NCLB as a real possible contributor to the problem. Most administrators don't even pretend to understand it, so the promotions (to keep the school looking like it is moving the students along) could be seen as a way to meet NCLB. I'm not saying it IS, I'm saying that from what I hear about NCLB, it could be caused from a point of misunderstanding.What strikes me is that if our schools are promoting kids that have failed, how can they be surprised at the graduation rate? If you're at grade 9 reading at grade 1, how likely are you going to be able--to say nothing about being motivated--to graduate?My children are above normal to the extreme, and I can't imagine an otherwise normal child not being able to read. My kids don't have to be prompted to learn; they want to, and you and I and the entire UT football team couldn't stop them if we wanted. This is partly due to genetics, sure, but the socio-economic situation they live in is very supportive. We are well-fed, not stressed over housing, bills, or jobs, there's no drug addicts or alcoholics in our immediate family---and the ones that are in our family are not around our children. How many families in the inner-city can claim that? How many kids are lost to the system because they are being pressured to learn while living in home environments that are far from supportive, if not down-right disruptive? How is the system reaching out to them, instead of smacking them? Early intervention seems to be the key, but is anybody looking beyond the TCAPs?

[Brian Hornback]

The problem as I see it is not the requirements of NCLB, but a school districts ability to blame NCLB (federal) on an individual schools performance.

Surely, five years is adequate time to bring a school to minimum standards.

[Doug McDaniel]

not when you are just teaching the kids to pass the test.

[RandomChick]

amen! i get so frustrated when all curriculum stops and our children are taught nothing but TCAPS for a few weeks. i don't blame the teachers or the local administration. they just feel the pressure from higher up. however, i honestly believe that nclb is one of the worst things to happen to education and i live to see it's practices abolished.

[Brian Hornback]

Doug, Obviously teaching to the test (if that is what they are doing) isn't working. Or there wouldn't be so many schools on notice after four or five years.

[Pamela Treacy]

I was wondering when "teaching to the tests" would be raised as a concern. I think the frustration is mutual between adminstration, school board, teachers, parents and students.

Has anyone else wondered why we give tests that compare students with others within the state of Tennessee and not use a national test? Since TN is ranked as one of the worst states in the country for education, why would we want to compare/judge success based on other Tennessee schools? Would it be better to take the same tests as the states ranked in the top 10 for education?

[Laura Coens]

I agree that social promotion is not the answer but I would like to point out some of the problems with simply requiring a child to repeat a grade (from a teacher's perspective).

First, there is no guarantee that a child who fails to learn material the first time around will magically pick it up the second time around - especially in the same school, hallway, and possibly the same classroom with the same teacher. In fact, it would be quite surprising if this were the case - the same inputs tend to lead to the same outcome.

Second, it is the rare child for which repeating a grade is motivating. More likely it is seen as punishing and humiliating. It is possible this technique will generate just enough effort for a child to slide by the next year, but it is also likely to generate resentment, a negative attitude toward school and learning, and acting-out behavior. Boredom is also an issue for children who have 'seen' a class before, even if they failed it the first time. And boredom leads to discipline problems.

Third, having older children in a classroom does create social problems. Any parent knows that older children can teacher younger kids things you would rather not have them know yet; this is especially the case when those older children are those who tend not to pay attention, do their homework, or listen to the teacher during class. Students may be failing in school because of personal problems or difficult circumstances at home. Thus these students are also more likely than average to be in a position to introduce their peers to negative attitudes, drugs, sex, bad language, etc. As a former eighth grade teacher I can attest that there is a huge difference in maturity and worldly knowledge between a studious 13 year old and a 16 year old who has been held back repeatedly. They are at different places in their lives with different needs and thus tend not to work well in the same classroom.

Children who fail in school tend to fail for a reason, and these reasons need to be addressed, and early. They may have trouble paying attention in class or may have learning disabilities. Or, as mentioned previously, children may face such stresses in the home that they cannot focus on abstract schoolwork, and instead see the security of the classroom as a haven for rest and relaxation. (Have you ever been so upset by something that you can't concentrate on reading a book or finishing a report you have to do for work? Imagine feeling that way every day.)

Having said that, however, I believe many of the reasons for failure are more mundane and common: Active boys who have a hard time sitting still for six hours without recess and fall farther and farther behind. Children who resent teachers for scolding them in a way they feel is unfair (that same active boy when he moves too quickly or talks too loud) or disrespectful and thus choose not to listen. Kids who hear that caring about school makes you a nerd and so decide not to care.

And, of course, there is the problem of eighth graders with a first grade education who are expected to do eighth grade work. Kids who are failing in middle school tend to be kids who have come to the conclusion that school is not for them and have stopped trying. They have realized they are not going to win at this game. These children often decide quite rationally that it is better for them to tune out and try to have fun in school than to try at something which has only led to frustration and failure. Social promotion may well contribute to this kind of decision making. But for the reasons above, simply requiring children to repeat a grade is also not a good answer.

Interventions should start early, in the elementary years. Kids who are at risk or failing should be offered an alternative class with alternative teaching methods that will work for them. They should be given opportunities for success rather than being subject to punishment and reprimand for failure. They should be evaluated for learning differences and given the appropriate support by trained personnel. And schools should be staffed with enough counselors and social workers to meet their students' needs.

[Tobias Queen]

I could not agree more. Early identification and special focus are a must! Here is where quality of education comes into play, public schools do not currently have the resources to give every child the help they need. Whereas programs like Sylvan and the like that offer a tight focus and one on one attention on specific learning issues have proven very effective. Can public schools afford this? Not at the present time. True change, as with everything in today's world, will take a whole lot of money, question is, where do we get it? Perhaps that wonderful TN Lottery? That's my 2 cents on this one. - TQ