Eighth-graders failing classes still promoted to high school
Gilroy – Retention.
Utter the word in a roomful of educators and wait. It’ll only take a few seconds before a slew of opinions begin flying.
“All the research I’ve read, it talks about kids who are retained have a higher chance of continuing to not do well or even drop out,” said John Perales, South Valley Middle School principal. “To me it’s a double-edged sword. I look at it as – how do we address the needs of those kids?”
Proponents argue that holding a student back one year may help correct an age deficiency – such as in the case of a kindergartner who began school on the younger side of the age cut-off – and will lead to greater academic achievement.
But critics, and there are many, cite low self-esteem, increased drop-out rates and little academic improvement as the end result of retention. They offer social promotion – or advancing a child to the next grade level despite academic inadequacies – as a viable solution.
And that’s the side Gilroy Unified School District has taken. Retention rarely takes place, but when it does, it nearly always occurs at the elementary level, and most often between grades kindergarten through third.
This year only 79 of the 4,790 or so students enrolled at one of the district’s eight elementary schools were held back.
Education experts have spent years weighing in on the controversial subject. In 2001, Shane R. Jimerson, a University of California professor, released a comprehensive study on the subject. In the report, titled “Meta-analysis of Grade Retention Research: Implications for Practice in the 21st Century,” he explained that many factors – socially, mentally and economically – contribute to low academic achievement.
“Clearly there are school, family and individual characteristics associated with the likelihood of grade retention and those characteristics will influence subsequent development and achievement trajectories,” Jimerson wrote in the study. “Such characteristics have important implications when selecting appropriate remedial intervention strategies…That is, simply having a student repeat a grade is unlikely to address the multiple factors influencing the students’ poor achievement or adjustment that resulted in the decision to retain the child.”
Jimerson went on to write that most education officials and researchers agree the better option is to ensure remediation is implemented into the school program. Pat Midtgaard, GUSD board president, has a similar take.
As a former teacher and principal, she’s had her fair share of exposure to the spicy subject. During the 15 years she spent as a teacher, she can only name two instances when retention emerged as the answer.
And in one case, “it back-fired,” Midtgaard said.
After much deliberation, she and a team of teachers decided that retention was the best option for this one student but they had counted on enrolling the child in a specific educator’s class. When that teacher left, that student suffered, she said.
The second scenario was better. In that case the fifth grader had missed 300 days of instruction and read at a first-grade level. Extreme poverty was the contributing factor and retention did help, Midtgaard said.
“I think it did give her an extra boost,” she said.
Retention is rarely the answer but “there are always exceptions,” the board member said. “The only reason it should ever be done is for academic reasons.”
Middle School Retention
Eighth-graders who brought home report cards filled with Fs will still head to Gilroy High School in August, thanks to a system that favors social promotion over retention.
This year, 94 students fell into that category. Failing to meet even the minimum standard of a cumulative D-average required to participate in the eighth grade promotion ceremony, the teens stayed at home or watched enviously, while their classmates headed across the Christmas Hill Park stage to pick up certificates of completion.
But the promotion ceremony carrot doesn’t amount to much considering high school is never subtracted from the equation.
“The minute you say, ‘hey kid you’re not going to high school,’ that number would be five or maybe 10,” Perales said.
The state leaves the details of pupil retention up to local agencies, stipulating that each school district and county superintendent must adopt polices regarding the issue. State education code does specify the district must include certain elements in it’s policy, such as identification of at-risk pupils as early in the school year as possible and an appeal process for teachers and parents.
The policy passed by the Gilroy Unified School District board spells out the process generally, specifying that the board, “recognizes that a student who fails to meet the grade-level achievement standards at the end of the academic year may be retained.”
The policy also stipulates that students may not be held back more than one year. No wording exists exempting middle school students, but it’s well-known among district administrators and teachers that retention after elementary school seldom occurs.
“It comes down to the philosophy of what do you think is best for the students in terms of retention,” said Ascencion Solorsano Middle School Principal Sal Tomasello. “When holding a student back, there’s always that question – ‘if a student is retained and they’re repeating the program, do they get bored?’ ”
Also, Perales and Tomasello said that failing classes doesn’t necessarily mean that a student doesn’t know the material. Numerous factors lead to poor grades, from low attendance to apathy.
The social aspect, and maturity are other practical issues impacting middle school retention. The gap between a sixth and eighth-grader is already wide, what happens when that teen remains on campus another year?
“It’s pretty late in the ball game,” Midtgaard said. “To retain a 14 year old is a huge decision because developmentally and socially they’re in a different place. Maybe they’re going to turn 15 in August and then they’re still going to be at Brownell? And then you have 16-year-olds on campus shaving and driving with 12-year-olds.”
Clean Slate
Perales has mixed feelings about the whole issue. While he strongly believes that fewer eighth-graders would fail classes if social promotion ended, he’s not sure where the solution lies.
“Is the answer retention?,” Perales asked. “I don’t know if that’s the answer.”
But the South Valley Middle School principal does have a concrete opinion on at least one element of the controversial matter – the D-average required to participate in promotion ceremonies.
“I think that’s too low,” he said. “We have to send a message that we’re about high standards … and I don’t think we’re doing that.”
Tomasello also thinks the requirement is too low and wants to see it bumped up.
Still, the question remains, what happens to students who walk onto Gilroy high’s campus armed with a back-ground of report cards peppered with Fs?
The students will head to GHS with a bit of baggage. For example, an eighth-grader who failed algebra won’t go onto geometry, Perales explained. But for the most part they’re thrown into the pool with all the other freshman.
Perales would like to see the issue revisited. He thinks the district should consider a special summer course or maybe even a quarter at the beginning of high school dedicated to freshman remediation.
“The skinny of it is we need to build some teeth into the program,” he said. “Give me some teeth and I’ll show you that the kids will rise to the occasion, just like (with) the CAHSEE (California High School Exit Exam).”
