MPR: Ending Social Promotion

Ending Social Promotion
by Tim Pugmire
November 30, 1999

The Effects of Ending Social Promotion

Children who are held back are 20% more likely to drop out of school
8,600 students were erroneously sent to summer school in NYC this summer when CTB/McGraw-Hill mis-graded their tests, the only factor considered in promotion
No other industrialized nation has addressed the problem of low-achieving students by ending social promotion
In Chicago this year, over 25,000 children went to mandatory summer school programs because they failed end-of-the-year tests

Source: The Merrow Report

Download a copy of "The Merrow Report" radio program. (PDF Format).

Saint Paul School District officials say they want more public input on their plans to end the social promotion of students. School board members and administrators discussed the proposed promotion and retention policy last night. But a final vote won't come until early next year.

THE SAINT PAUL SCHOOL DISTRICT already has a policy allowing teachers to hold back a student, but few do. Fewer than three percent of the district's 40,000 students are ever required to repeat a grade. Almost every student moves on to the next grade, whether he or she measures up academically or not. Superintendent Pat Harvey has been pushing for an end of social promotion since her arrival in Saint Paul last spring. Kate Trewick, the district's chief academic officer, agrees.

Trewick: It seams to me people are interested in having kids graduating from high school well prepared. And that's not going to happen if we don't make sure that they're getting what they need along the way.

Under the proposed policy, students in third, fifth and eighth grades would have to meet certain academic standards to advance to the next grade. Decisions would be based on teacher evaluations, standardized test scores and attendance. Trewick says the students who've fallen behind would get individual "academic growth plans" to help them catch up.

Trewick: That may include having a change in the workday at school. It may include some before or after school learning time. And for students this summer, it would mean required attendance at summer sessions.

And if two years of extra help and summer sessions still don't get them back on track, the students would be held back until they've mastered their grade-level material. District officials have yet to estimate the cost of the proposal. School Board Chairwoman Mary Thornton Phillips says ending social promotion is a tough but necessary step for Saint Paul schools.

How to End Social Promotion
The U.S. Department of Education released a guide, Taking Responsibility for Ending Social Promotion: Strategies for Educators and State and Local Leaders, to help schools address "the practice of passing along students who are unprepared academically for the next grade." President Clinton called for an end to social promotion in his 1999 State of the Union address and directed the Education Department to develop a guide on effective practices to help do so.
Source: U.S. Department of Education

Phillips: It is going to be difficult. It means we have to have a great number of interventions, that we have to work to with children early instead of allowing them to fall into the trap of failure, after failure, after failure. We catch them quickly and we make sure we correct something before they just believe this is all I can do.

School district officials say that emphasis on intervention is what separates Saint Paul's approach from the often-ineffective student-retention practices of the past. But many parents still have concerns. Jeff Koon, a member of the school district's task force on the issue, says he thinks retention will have a negative impact on students.

Koon: I'm afraid for the classes, you know like the fifth graders in the fourth grade class, the fifth-grade kids in age in the fourth-grade classes, especially if you do it for more than a year. And I'm also afraid of the impact on the kids who are retained because the previous research shows that they basically drop out at a higher rate.

Such concerns help explain why district officials now say they'll hold a series of public meetings to get additional input on the proposal. Final school board action had been expected in December, but the vote is now expected in late January or early February.

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