Ending Social Promotion

Not long ago I read an article in the Rocky Mountain News about a Denver school that had made the decision to end social promotion! What an earth-shaking idea. Surely we can't do that? Stop moving students from grade to grade .....risk damaging their self esteem?

About 30 years ago educational critics began to agitate about "failing" students. While the original protests did contain some germs of truth, namely that having the student repeat the entire subject or class was not very successful, they wrongly concluded that the solution was to just pass them on and the next teacher could bring them up to the desired level. This led to teachers having learning gaps of up to six to eight years along with an expectation that they should meet the needs of all students. It also had the unintended consequence of creating generations of students who knew that they didn't have to work hard to master subjects because they would be passed on.

Simple solution: Instead of starting over the student needed to finish the work. This might be done in a variety of ways, tutoring sessions during the year, after school, or weekends; a two to four week summer school session; there are many options. This has two advantages: For those students who just need more time and attention to master the subject, it is provided. But the big advantage: re-creating students who realize that they are expected to produce satisfactory results and that true self esteem comes from working hard to master a difficult subject and achieving success.

This is step one in educational reform. Visit http://www.electmarcianeal.com/