Educ. Expert Suggests Remedial Medium Between Retention, Social Promotion
by Jim Brown
April 19, 2004
(AgapePress) - Opponents of "social promotion" claim the practice gives children the message that effort and achievement do not count and often mistakenly leads parents to believe their children are prepared for college. Nevertheless, an education reform advocate says moving a failing public school student to the next grade is warranted in some cases.Krista Kafer is the senior education analyst at the Heritage Foundation. She believes some students who are on the cusp of passing their standardized math or English exam should be elevated to the next grade if they take summer school courses or get added help to pass the test.
"Giving students extra help will benefit all students that have failed the test -- it's important that these students have a second chance," Kafer says. "But at some point, if they cannot master the material before the next grade and they are woefully behind, they are going to become even more behind if they are promoted to the next grade."
The education expert asserts that many students being "socially promoted" do not have the requisite skills, and the gap between their performance and their grade-level's standard will continue to increase. She warns that these students may eventually get to a point where they cannot take their end-of-high-school exam, or may receive a diploma that they have not earned.
Kafer says students who end up with such a false diploma often have real trouble finding employment, getting promotions in their jobs, or gaining entrance to college. "You've got kids that have graduated that can't read the newspaper, can't do basic math," she says, and notes that many such young people get turned away at the door when seeking "something as simple as a factory job," simply because they lack the most basic requisite skills.
"So you're not doing anybody any favors when you move them along through the system when they haven't earned the knowledge or the skills to master the material," Kafer says.
The Heritage Foundation analyst points out it is a lot easier for a young person to take summer school or repeat a grade than it is to have those kinds of problems getting ahead in life or in employment as a young adult.
