Sunday, April 6, 2008
Interesting...
Your blog is a great way for teachers to communicate and share resources when dealing with retention issues. I recently worked with a teacher who is struggling with the decision to retain a child in 5th grade. Personally, I think she would be doing the child a favor to give her a year to catch up and mature so that she can be more successful in middle school. This will increase the likelihood that the student will stay in school and finish high school. Fourth and fifth grades seem to be turning point years: if the student is not at grade level by then, the probability that they will eventually drop out of school increases dramatically. Thanks for giving us a forum to discuss solutions!
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2 comments:
Thanks for your kind words, Nancy:) I agree; 4th and 5th grades are very critical turning points for students and 5th grade can be a time where interventions (like retention and subsequent remediation) can be the most fruitful for students. I believe the social repercussions are the least at this age and increase the likelihood for success in high school.
I was reading a recent article about the NY school system. There is a lot of controversy going on there right now that is related to this issue. In Jan of 2008, Mayor Bloomberg proposed a bill that would ban social promotion for middle grades. Basically in order to be promoted to high school, middle school students have to pass two test and pass four core subjects. The proposal was ratified in March of 2008 by the Board of Education. I am totally alarmed at the NY school system because a NY school system study was conducted that found that if this law had been passed last year, an estimated 18,000 students would have been held back. That number totally surprised me!!! It just makes me wonder what is really going on in our school systems.
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