Should Students Be Held Back?

Social promotion, the practice of promoting students from one grade to the next even when they are not academically ready to progress to the next level, is a nationwide problem, according to the American Federation of Teachers. Students are often promoted simply because of their age, or fear of damaging their self-esteem. Last month, Gov. Pete Wilson signed two bills to end what he calls “the worst form of false kindness.” The measures enforce strong academic standards, give teachers greater authority in deciding whether a child is held back and provide funds for remedial classes to help students succeed at the next level. MAURA E. MONTELLANO spoke with two teachers about the new legislation.

Amy Weisberg

Teacher, 2nd grade, Topanga Elementary School

I’m not in favor of social promotion. I believe kids should have the skills of the particular grade level before they advance to the next. You can’t just keep letting these kids go on forever if they are not learning. We can’t make up for what they didn’t learn before. We can only teach a year’s worth of curriculum in a year; we can’t cover three years in one year. Teachers end up blaming the teachers who came before them.

I feel as teachers, with this legislation, we’re finally getting the support we’ve needed/ It’s a wake-up call for parents as well. Now we can say there are real ramifications if their child is not ready at the end of the year. The teacher is not just saying this to say it; it’s a law now.

Letting parents know that they must help their child meet standards by helping them at home is key. Some parents, of course, can’t because they don’t understand the language or don’t know enough to help their child.

For kids who can’t afford to have the kind of specialized tutoring that could help them, the funding for after-school classes will be helpful. Testing is one way to know where a student stands.

The most important thing they can do with this funding is to pay for teachers’ aides for every primary classroom. It would be beneficial to have two people working with kids, especially during reading time.

I don’t want to be the only one deciding on a child in question. I would like to have the backing of my principal or someone else in the system as well as the parent.

There should be a check system so it doesn’t get out of control. You might even have a parent who wants his child retained because they don’t feel the child is prepared.

We should have standardized methods on making decisions because we end up with too many criteria and we don’t agree. You have one teacher who feels bad for the student or knows the child’s family and it affects the teacher’s decision. Some teachers don’t want to harm the child’s self-esteem or they listen to the parents promise that they will work with the child during the summer. Then they don’t and, meanwhile, the child has moved on to the next grade.

On the other hand, there may be teachers who wouldn’t recommend anyone be held back because it would reflect badly on them. You just don’t want that decision with one person: it’s good to have input from other parties.

We must look at all the alternatives before we turn to retention.