Social promotion or retention? two wrongs still don't make a right

Leadership, March, 2001 by Dennis R. Parker

6. In secondary schools, allow more mixed-grade classes across the curriculum.

7. If they are working substantially in their home languages, hold English Language Learners to the same standards -- taught and assessed principally through their home languages -- and the same timeline as English speakers.

8. If they are working substantially in English, hold ELL's to the same standards as English speakers, but not to the same timeline. For example, ELL students working in English might not be considered for retention until they have:

* achieved a specified level of English language proficiency within a specified period of time (e.g., high intermediate fluency or fluent within three to five years); or

* attended school in the U.S. for a specified period of time (e.g., five to seven years); or

* both.

Postscript

Today's emphasis on pupil promotion and retention can result in abuse or enlightenment. We can increase the pressure on struggling students and their parents in ways that smack of blaming the victim. And we can reduce instruction to a sterile, test-prep, skills-based approach for students most in need of help. Such an approach would not only take the joy out of teaching and learning, but also preempt opportunities to apply skills and concepts in ways that would help students own them forever.

But new promotion and retention policies can also lead to redoubled efforts to work smarter, more strategically, more personally and in greater collaboration with colleagues, students and parents to prevent any child from failing. This will require doing whatever it takes and disallowing failure as an option!

There is a Zen saying: "Knowledge is learning something every day. Wisdom is letting go of something every day." Educators cannot continue to do more on top of more. We must find ways to spend our energies and resources more effectively and strategically on targets, feedback and know-how.

The good news is there is more evidence than ever that Benjamin Bloom was right -- that poverty and minority status only seem like causes of failure because of the way we do business today. With studies such as Doug Reeves' (2000) on schools with 90 percent minority enrollments, 90 percent poverty and 90 percent meeting standards, we have a fighting chance of reaching every child.

Why not use retention policies to remake our schools? Indeed, an enlightened policy could leverage an entire district, ensuring an optimal, standardsbased educational experience in every subject, in every grade level, for every child ... and that would definitely not be business as usual!

References

ACSA. (1998). Research in Grade: Research and Practice. Information for School Leaders, Educational Research Service.

California Department of Education. (November 1998). Pupil Promotion and Retention Information Packet. Sacramento, CA.

Children's Letters to God. (1966) Compiled by E. Marshall & S. Hample. Simon & Shuster, NY.

Marzano, R.J. and Kendall, J.S. (1998). Awash in a Sea of Standards. Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory, Inc.