Do we put students first when we promote them when they aren’t ready?
A retired APS teacher sent me this note in response to my entry a few ago on Michelle Rhee’s state report cards. I thought it was worth sharing as it addresses a problem that I hear about all the time — the promotion of kids who are not ready or prepared for the next grade:
I am a retired teacher from an APS middle school. I have tried to get someone to listen to what I consider a big problem in APS schools.
The article “Students first? really touched me. So many students in APS will never graduate from high school because they can’t read, write, or pass the CRT. It’s not their fault or their parents’ fault.
In the last 10 years of my teaching career, I saw so many students struggle because they were always put up to the next grade level even when they could not pass the grade they were in.
My last two years of teaching were in the sixth grade, and I had students who read on the third, fourth and fifth grade level but were “passed on.”
What does that mean? They did not pass their classes or the CRT but went on into the next grade. We are not putting these students first but putting the numbers that look great for passing first.
Of course, this keeps parents happy to see that their child went into the next grade. This makes the dropout rate in the ninth grade rise higher and higher because now students can be put out of school.
Two years ago, I emailed the state superintendent, the APS superintendent, the governor, the mayor and board members. I never heard from any of them. I told them that I wanted to talk to them about our students and reading.
I am white and my school was about 99.8 percent African American. I loved my students and still do even though I’m retired. I still hear from some of them, and they are doing great.
I won’t take up anymore of your time and I thank you for reading this e-mail.
I wish that someone would just listen to a teacher who echoes what many teachers want to say also. I know that in my heart we “must” change education in our country and it won’t be done by people who have not been in a school in 20 or 30 years.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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123 comments Add your comment
AngryRedMarsWoman
January 29th, 2013
9:59 am
“This is yet another problem that would be solved if parents were allowed to send their kids to schools that better fit each child’s needs.”
Is there really a law on the books that prohibits parents from sending their children to the school of their choice? Are parents not allowed to move to a home near a public school they prefer? Are parents not allowed to enroll their children in any one of the incredibly high number of private schools in metro Atlanta (assuming the child scores well enough on the entrance exams, etc)? Better lock me up then because I did both things – moved to an area with good public elementary and middle schools and currently sending my child to an excellent private college-prep high school. Of course that has meant sacrifices on my part, but I never knew it was against the law too. snark
Reading Teacher
January 29th, 2013
10:14 am
I could really get started on this topic, but i’ll try to keep it short. I teach Reading Intervention in a school of high poverty and limited english. I have tried to fight tooth and nail to get these kids who don’t know their alphabets in K/first retained with very little positive results. I get stuck in a catch22…if they are too low, we push them on and test them for special ed…if they are showing ’some’ progress we push them on since they show potential. REALLY?!?! I’m sorry, but social promotion is a horrible trend, even if statistics do show retention doesn’t work. Someone mentioned in a previous comment that retention doesn’t work because we don’t remediate properly when they are retained, and that person was so accurate. If the instruction didn’t work for them for the first year, what makes ANYONE think it is going to work the second year. What we need to do is have strategic, intensive interventions in place, in a smaller class size, for those students we retain. We can’t fix parent involvement, but we can fix what we do in the schools to meet the needs of these struggling learners. It’s about time someone in this state does something.
Another Retired Teacher
January 29th, 2013
10:18 am
It is terribly frustrating to have a student in class who cannot read or do math on grade level:
–It is frustrating to the teacher who is being told to “catch them up” while simultaneously teaching everyone else (also on different levels)
–it is frustrating to parents who see it as the schools responsibility to educate. They think of their school experience (where students were grouped according to ability) and don’t understand that we aren’t allowed to do that any more
–it is frustrating to other students because they are often being made to “help” or “tutor” that student
–it is frustrating to that student because they are being made to not only catch up, but try to do what everyone else is doing.
The easy and inexpensive fix to all of this is to group students by ability. It works. Parents know it works. Teachers know it works. But until some lily livered administrator type actually grows a pair, it will never happen. Not all students can or should go to college. The world also needs ditch diggers, chefs, and plumbers.
Don't Tread
January 29th, 2013
10:29 am
“We are not putting these students first but putting the numbers that look great for passing first.”
She hit the nail on the head. It’s all about making themselves look good, and has been since the 90s. Now we have “adults” with “college degrees” in the workforce that can’t spell, use the correct word in a sentence, or calculate a percentage of something. This is the end result of “social promotion”.
Maude
January 29th, 2013
10:31 am
Placing a child in a grade when they are not prepared is so crazy!! However, this happens to thousand of children yearly. The way I see it is like if someone plalced me in a new job in August. Suppose they told me I had to be a nurse, doctor, lawyer, airplane pilot?? I would be completely lost and have on confidence in my ability. Children placed in grades when they are not prepared feel this way.
Patrick Edmondson
January 29th, 2013
10:34 am
30 yr. teaching vet here. From 1st to 12th the whole education system is now built on a factory business model which assumes all “product” (i.e. students) arrive standardized and move at a standard rate. Any slow down costs the system funds and efficiency. Teachers are not heeded when they feel a student is unprepared and threatened that saying so is an admission of teacher failure and noted as a deficiency on observations. About 10th it starts to back up with kids in “remedial” classes. I once had 45 students in a class. The administration listed it as two courses, both under 25. Warehousing was what happened and it breeds frustration and drop-outs, the relief valve of the overcrowded system.
Why do people think MBA training applies to human beings who are anything but standardized packages.
Looking for the truth
January 29th, 2013
10:43 am
Seems to me like it’s not the teacher, but the parents fault. Some parents do not accept that their child didn’t do the work necessary to be promoted to the next grade and browbeat teachers and administrators into promoting them before they are ready. It’s not always about sports, etc. When teachers try to conference with parents whose kids won’t be ready, the parents don’t show or argue with the teacher about things not related to learning.
Right or wrong – social promotion exists because parents want it!
Lee
January 29th, 2013
10:49 am
“Do we put students first when we promote them when they aren’t ready?”
In a word, no.
I would futher expand on that and say we do not put students first when we wait until the end of the school year to make a determination whether or not that student is ready for the next level of work. Ideally, at the end of the first grading period, the student should be evaluated and if they are failing, they should be looped back to the beginning of the semester. Keep doing that every grading period and at some point, the achievement level and curriculum level will sync up.
Sorta like college – you don’t get to sign up for Calc II if you haven’t passed Calc I.
proud Teacher
January 29th, 2013
10:58 am
Teachers are pushed to keep the numbers right for the high school report card. An administrator can change a grade, demand extra work, assign a computer class which can earn the student credit in a few hours—-all without really learning the material of the class. This is after the years of social promotion in elementary school and the years of passing no classes at all in middle school. Somewhere the high school diploma has become known as an American right, no effort involved. No, they canno read or comput simple math and they’ve been told they don’t really need to learn because someone like a curriculum director and school board will make it all batter for them. We’re all equal here, aren’t we?
Jameson
January 29th, 2013
11:00 am
If a child fails due to a lack of involvement by their parents, the government should withhold a substantial proportion of any tax refund they’re due. If the parents are being subsidized by government (welfare,) they should withhold that too. That will motivate them to get involved.
Truth in Moderation
January 29th, 2013
11:01 am
Human beings are not produced in a factory (yet), nor should they be educated in one. The public school system is based on a 19th century factory design. The kids enter in K and move along the production line at a uniform pace until they exit at 12th grade. Those who don’t “make the grade” are discarded along the way. The factories set a middle of the road standard, so children in that small category might exit at 12th grade with a fitting education. For the rest? Not so much.
It is up to the parents to give their child a fitting “dynamic” education- one that changes and grows with them and is fitted to their natural talents. This can be accomplished through home schooling, private AND public school–ALL TOGETHER. There might be a time where the local public school suits your child. When it no longer does, it’s time to move on to home schooling and hiring private tutors and/or using online courses. PARENTS MUST SHED THE 19TH CENTURY FACTORY EDUCATION MINDSET. With technology and a huge array of options now available through the home schooling movement, THERE IS NO EXCUSE!
Ronald Reagan
January 29th, 2013
11:04 am
It’s a Liberal training program! Keep them dumb & train them how to vote!
Just Sayin
January 29th, 2013
11:06 am
Although I don’t totally agree with the writer, I do believe that part of the problem is the administration. EVERYONE is afraid of being sued.Instead of backing the teachers when they try to retain a kid, they let fear of what the parent will do guide them. I taught in Texas and let me tell you. The parents reguarly threatended to sue if their child was retained. They would scream and shout and go as high as the state board of education to get their child promoted. Social promotion is a parental construct. They are more worried about how it will make their child feel to get retained. I have had kids tell me that their parents won’t let them get retained. Heck I have had parents say that they won’t ever let their kid be retained. These are usually the same parents that don’t respond the whole school year when the teacher is sending home notes and calling to say there is a problem. Yet they blame the teachers and schools when their kid doesn’t know anything.
Jake
January 29th, 2013
11:11 am
It’s a lose lose situation. Retention does nothing, social promotion does nothing. Everyone is missing the key component: PARENTING. Educated people have 1-2 kids at most. Welfare uneducated people have 4 or more. No one is trying to educate the uneducated parents to do better by their kids. No one is talking about what this means for society with the balance. 1-2 highly educated people will have to make more money to pay more taxes to support the large numbers of people on welfare.
Just Sayin
January 29th, 2013
11:13 am
Oh and for the the record, schools and teachers have to have parental consent for any type of extra tutoring and many times the parent will say no because the kid either had to come to school early or stay late. Sometimes they may have to miss and elective class. Everyone wants individualized lessons for their child. Do you people know how hard it is to see over 100 kids in a day and try to make a lesson to suit each one of them. Even in elemenatry school wiith 20-24 kids in a class it’s hard to idividualize beacause you end up not teaching everythng. It is time consuming. This is where mainstreaming has messed up the classroom. The gap between the children is so large that many of the regular ed kids miss out on proper instruction because the teacher has to spend so much time on the special ed kids…even with a co -teacher.
Sam
January 29th, 2013
11:23 am
I wish more advanced students would take advantage of the “Move On When Ready” option in high school and allow some more resources to be given to the remedial students.
Mountain Man
January 29th, 2013
11:26 am
“Now we have “adults” with “college degrees” in the workforce that can’t spell, use the correct word in a sentence, or calculate a percentage of something.”
And unfortunately, some of those are teachers. Don’t get me wrong, I am not knocking all teachers, the vast majority of whom are great, caring, and talented professionals whose worth is decreased every day by ADMINISTRATORS. But there are some teachers out there who cannot read and speak proper English and do basic math and they do NOT need to be teaching. A mastery of the subject taught is a necessary requirement for teaching a subject.
Mountain Man
January 29th, 2013
11:29 am
So the question is: WHY do students not learn what they are supposed to during the year? I challenge Maureen to come up with data listing the days absent (and late) with classes failed. I believe you will see a strong correlation. Address absenteeism! Teachers cannot teach a student that is not present in class! Fine the parents! Send them to jail! Get their dang attention!
HS Public Teacher
January 29th, 2013
11:32 am
This, as most problems, are just a symptom of a bigger problem. This bigger problem is widespread, not just in APS. Is is a huge problem in DeKalb County, Fulton County (even North Fulton), Cobb County, and in every single other school system.
The bigger problem is the administration. By administration, I specifically refer to the Principals, the Area Superintendents, the Department Chairs, and other positions (not a classroom teacher). Their problem is that there is no oversight. None. Not a tad. Not a bit. They are free to make “bad” and/or “wrong” and/or “unethical” decisions without any consequences. Please allow me to give an example:
The Principal hires a “friend” to become a Department Chair. This “friend” is worthless. They cannot teach (20 year track record of issues and problems in the classroom). They cannot manage (no one really respects them). They cannot lead (they are late with everything and tries to get others to do their work). However, they are a “friend” of the Principal and will stand up for that Principal no matter what.
Who suffers for this “bad” decision? Well, first the teachers do. Now, these teachers have this Department Chair that leads them to total chaos. Most importantly, the students suffer. The entire department becomes chaos – good teachers leave (transfer and/or quit), no over sight of lessons, etc.
What can the parents do? Basically nothing. All the parents see is that one teacher (their child’s) in the department and then blame everything on her. So the parents do not even realize the core issue.
What can the teachers do? Basically nothing. There is no real teacher union. If they complain to the Principal, she gets made at them for saying bad things about her friend.
THIS is what is wrong with Georgia’s education. It is not lack of money. It is lack of a ‘checks and balance’ system that keeps educrates from doing crap like this!!!
Mountain Man
January 29th, 2013
11:41 am
“I challenge Maureen to come up with data listing the days absent (and late) with classes failed.”
Actually, I would like to hear from the teachers on here. I am sure most of them can tell us exactly what the main problem is with students not learning the required material. So let’s hear it, teachers!
Mountain Man
January 29th, 2013
11:44 am
“The Principal hires a “friend” to become a Department Chair. This “friend” is worthless.”
Sounds like the Dekalb County “Friends and Family” program. Wonder why they are in the shape they are in?
RCB
January 29th, 2013
11:49 am
The culture of children having children has done more to wreck our educational system than anything else, and it is rampant in some segments of society. If I were a local pastor in these neighborhoods, I would be screaming from the pulpit the value of family and education. Instead of trying to “save” one person, why not try to save a whole generation (or 3). Step up!!!!!
Educator1
January 29th, 2013
11:57 am
Great comments, unfortunately nothing will change. The educrates will come up with every excuse under the sun as to why they cant fund transitional classes, but that is exactly what is needed.
Mary Elizabeth
January 29th, 2013
12:02 pm
We must continously bear in mind that students will learn content at differenting rates. That does not change, just as IQ does not change considerably over time.
Thus, if we “catch up” a student by retaining him/her in 4th grade, he/she still willl not master new content at the same rate as the “norm” rate for most students in 5th grade, or 6th grade, or 7th grade, etc. A better solution would be continuously to address each student’s varied rate of learning as he/she advances in the curriculum for k -12+ grade levels.
Moreover, if we retain a student in 4th grade, he/she may have already mastered 40% of the content in 4th grade, but not 60% of the content. Why should this student be forced to sit through a whole year of 100% of the 4th grade content – again – when he/she had already mastered 40% of the content for 4th grader? A better solution would be continuously to address the precise instructional levels of each student as he/she advances through the curriculum content for k -12+ grade levels.
Mary Elizabeth
January 29th, 2013
12:04 pm
CORRECTION: Not “differenting rates,” but “differing rates.”
teacher/coach
January 29th, 2013
12:06 pm
Of course you aren’t putting the student first when this happens. Try being in high school and teaching kids who can’t read. Who haven’t passed a CRCT since early elementary school. It’s not possible. Administration wants to get in an uproar over graduation rates and AYP and the state wants to complain about it too. Uh, you try teaching a kid that reads and writes on a 3rd grade level in a 10th grade Lit class.
Heck, in my county the middle school teachers are told to “pass them”.
Mary Elizabeth
January 29th, 2013
12:09 pm
CORRECTION: Not “for 4th grader,” but “for 4th grade.”
My apologies. I have an appointment, and I was typing too rapidly in order to make my appointment. I wanted to get my thoughts on the blog before leaving, however.
teacher/coach
January 29th, 2013
12:13 pm
Mary Elizabeth- that is not possible. I cannot teach to the varyin levels of 38 kids in my class. That is simply not possible. If a kid has mastered 40% of the 4th grade curriculum he hasn’t mastered much. And yes, I absolutely think he should repeat the grade. The concepts he did not master should seem somewhat familiar to him/her a second time around.
This is exactly the problem. The 40% he mastered might be in math and science but the kid can’t read and write. Grade levels build on eachother and the concepts taught previously.
So yes, if the kid mastered only 40% of the concept then little Johnny should be in the 4th grade until he masters the minimum to be allowed to move on (70%).
And we wonder why there are problems in the education system in this state.
teacher/coach
January 29th, 2013
12:17 pm
Putting every kid on a college bound diploma doesn’t help either. Bring back sped and tech diplomas.
Ivan Cohen
January 29th, 2013
12:20 pm
@ Mountain Man
“But there are some teachers out there who cannot read and speak proper English and do basic math and they do not need to be teaching.” How could this happen? Did the colleges and universities where these type of teachers “graduated” from engage in “social promotions?” In essence the institutions where they matriculated said in essence that these teachers met all the requirements and were readily available to enter their field of study in all 159 counties of our public school system. If they don’t need to be teaching due to grammar and math issues, what would you have them do? Be a greeter at Wal-Mart? Even these positions have been phased out. But then there’s always Sam’s Club. Since the cash registers are automated they won’t need any basic math to work at: Chick-Fil-A, Burger King, KFC, McDonalds, Popeye’s or Checkers.
@Jake
In a perfect world it would be good if the educated parents could enlighten their uneducated comrades without coming across as patronizing and condescending. What it’s going to take is for former uneducated parents who have come to see the light to reach out to them. The former uneducated parents being he or she has as they say “been there, done that”. So they know how essential education has become.
Truth in Moderation
January 29th, 2013
12:21 pm
“If I were a local pastor in these neighborhoods, I would be screaming from the pulpit the value of family and education.”
The solution is for the churches to start Christian schools, or support home schooling parents. We already know what happens to children sitting in a godless environment six hours a day. The Book of Genesis is the foundation of Western Civilization. The public schools have thrown out this foundation and are amazed at the strange fruit they have produced.
teacher/coach
January 29th, 2013
12:22 pm
If you’ve taught long enough you understand that the apple does not fall far from the tree.
Home-tutoring parent
January 29th, 2013
12:38 pm
sat/Lots of upset/angry people here. We ditched incompetent schools and teachers.
You have boys? Make sure that their teachers have a 700 SAT/ 30 ACT Math score.
“I got a 590 SAT-M I can teach 5th graders mathematics.”
Observer
January 29th, 2013
1:03 pm
@ Home-tutoring parent. Still as incoherent and irrational as at 2:41 am, I see.
fer
January 29th, 2013
1:13 pm
I spent 30 years teaching elementary and middle school and never really found an answer to this question. (And I also found few politicians and administrators who were willing to listen to teachers’ views on the subject.) It certainly increases ninth-grade drop-outs to just push students along until they are old enough to drop out. But I know two adults who were ‘held back’ in elementary school, and they both say it did them no good at all. (Just for the record, they are both college graduates, and one holds an advanced degree.) This is a question that begs discussion over and over until someone finds a workable solution that is not just a band-aid.
Looking for the truth
January 29th, 2013
2:25 pm
I believe having standard promotion criteria may help. For example, I know of students who leave a district with tough promotion criteria for one where it is easier to get promoted, even without learning. You might be surprised at the number of parents who come to Gwinnett County because our schools are supposedly good but are shocked that the teachers cannot pass the students unless they perform well on the CRCT or have the grades to show they’re ready to move on.
If the state established the promotion criteria so that it was consistent from district to district, it might give the administrators and teachers the support to deny a parent’s request to promote when their kids aren’t ready. Let them go to a private school or charter school where performance standards are, sometimes, even tougher!
I Teach Writing
January 29th, 2013
2:30 pm
I’m half convinced that “Home-tutoring parent” is either a performance artist or some sort of experimental poet.
The alternative is too dreadful to contemplate.
Teachers Are Never Asked
January 29th, 2013
2:31 pm
Several points to make: 1) The Bell curve is and always will be valid, not everyone is going to make an A. 2) At one time in this country you did not leave the 1st grade unless you could read, I graduated with many 19 year olds and their self esteem was not destroyed by repeating the 1st grade. 3) Teachers, you know the ones who actually interact with the students, are never part of any discussion as to how to fix problems with education. (If they are they find the rah rah’s who don’t have any problems) 4) Tracking works.
Out the Door
January 29th, 2013
2:32 pm
It is difficult to provide a mandated summer school program when the state has cut/reduced summer school funding through continuous austerity cuts. Due to federal supplanting restrictions, a mandated program cannot be funded with federal (Title I) funds.
Matt321
January 29th, 2013
2:49 pm
Glad to see others taking up the fight against our mass-produced, factory model of education. Age based cohorts make no sense. As a state, we have tens of thousands of teachers available. With modern information technology, a high school (and probably even a middle school) student from Albany can effectively be taught a subject by a teacher in Atlanta. Thus, we have the resources and the capability to move toward a mastery-based model (a model, I should add, that should have a flexible, student-driven curriculum, and not a federally mandated cookie cutter curriculum).
I am a bit disappointed, however, that after calling out in the comments social promotion as a phantom problem just yesterday, today social promotion is highlighted as a terrible problem on the blog itself. Where is the research suggesting this is an overarching problem? More importantly, where is the research which shows why it is better to keep a child with his peers than to force him to repeat the same material and methods for another year, with a new group of kids and teachers who may consciously or unconsciously regard the held-back student as a failure?
I would also point out that, strictly speaking, this blog isn’t even about social promotion, per se, as it isn’t advocating a switch to fluid, merit based promotion. Instead, it’s much more limited, in that it is about punitive retention of students for perceived lack of merit, but retaining social promotion for everyone else.
bootney farnsworth
January 29th, 2013
3:13 pm
@ Home-tutoring parent
?????????
stooge
January 29th, 2013
3:24 pm
Home-tutoring parent -That might be the most disgusting thing I’ve ever read here. Congrats
Teacher, Too
January 29th, 2013
3:38 pm
Reading and basic math need to be addressed in early elementary school. Children need to be able to read and comprehend what they are reading. One of the biggest problems in middle school is that students are proficient at calling words. Many kids can read words beautifully, but they don’t have the first clue what any of it means.
Basic math– students need to be able to add and subtract fluently before they can learn how to multiply and divide. And some math facts just need to be memorized (multiplication table for one…)
If students haven’t mastered basic reading comprehension and math skills, they are not going to be successful in upper elementary school, and forget about middle and high school. Early intervention is key! Maybe elementary school should be run more on a Montesorri method in first and second grades– blended classes and students move at their own rate. When they have mastered the first and second grade material, move them to third grade blended class.
Regarding speaking and writing grammatically correctly…it is embarrassing when teachers do not speak, read, and/or write grammatically correct grammar. However, you hear and see glaring errors across all walks of life– even on the news, the anchors botch the grammar. Subject/verb agreement is often incorrect. Compound prepositional phrases with a pronoun: Between you and I??? NOOOO! Between you and me!
So many common errors that have been accepted as correct. Grammar must be taught, or the entire society’s writing and speaking skills will continue to deteriorate.
I’m definitely not perfect, and I make mistakes, but I definitely try to model correct writing and speaking skills to my students.
I apologize for the long post. I had quite a bit to say today.
Jerry Eads
January 29th, 2013
6:20 pm
Lots of research on this, not much help. We KNOW, repeat KNOW, that when we retain a kid in a grade – any grade – the chances of his or her graduating plummets. Retained twice, the chances of their graduating approach zero. That’s in, it will not happen. Why is that? Because the second year we almost always do the same thing to them that they didn’t get the first time. What’s that old adage? Doing the same thing again and expecting different results? That’s the definition of insanity.
We do sometimes pass kids through (with and without retention) without helping them. One of my starkest memories from my three years evaluating the state’s alternative schools program was the teacher who with naturally great frustration was telling me of a great kid just sent to her at a rural alternative school. “He’s sixteen years old and can’t read a word. DON’T YOU THINK SOMEBODY WOULD HAVE NOTICED?” Chances are they did, but rarely do we have adequate specialized staffing to find out why and “fix” the problem.
Many of those who read and post here find it very easy to either blame the kid and/or the teacher for not trying hard enouugh – they’re just lazy, you’d say; it’s their fault. Few of you would blame a Cessna 150 pilot for doing a lousy job flying an F-16.
Perhaps not the best analogy, but specialized reading problems require specially trained teachers, and there are a LOT more specialized reading problems in poor schools, both rural and urban. Add to that stealing $5.4 billion from the schools, and forcing them to operate as few as 143 days. Could we/should we do better? No doubt. Would it help to have the resources the state promised via forked tongue? Might.
Really amazed
January 29th, 2013
6:42 pm
As far as the lovely CRCT goes. My niece told my daughter the other day….when she was in 5th grade the teachers handed out green M&M’s if they had the correct answer and red ones if they had the wrong answer until it was correct. I hope my sister in law wasn’t aware of this. Of course, even if she was I am sure she would have just brushed it under the rug like just about every other parent in GA public school!
ScienceTeacher671
January 29th, 2013
7:36 pm
OF COURSE it’s not putting students first. It’s putting the needs of the administrators and school boards first. Shouldn’t we all know that by now?
They tell us that we should teach students to mastery, no matter how long it takes, but some students aren’t given the time they need, and other students have to suffer through the same skills for far too long when they could be moving on.
ScienceTeacher671
January 29th, 2013
7:46 pm
@Jerry Eads: Chances are they did, but rarely do we have adequate specialized staffing to find out why and “fix” the problem.
Doesn’t it seem odd that when kids are struggling with learning, we will do EVERYTHING for YEARS except test them for dyslexia and other learning disabilities?
Shouldn’t it be just as important to check for neurological problems as for vision and hearing problems?
Jerry Eads
January 29th, 2013
9:49 pm
ST671: Yep.
Mary Elizabeth
January 30th, 2013
5:47 am
@ teacher/coach, 12:13 pm
“Mary Elizabeth- that is not possible. I cannot teach to the varyin levels of 38 kids in my class. That is simply not possible. If a kid has mastered 40% of the 4th grade curriculum he hasn’t mastered much. And yes, I absolutely think he should repeat the grade.”
==================================================
Teacher/coach, what I am proposing is a paradigm shift in thinking about grade levels, which were created to place students in twelve lock-step curriculum requirement sets, with all the students advancing at the same rate. I am proposing, instead, a redesign of our public educational system to more realistically accommodate the naturally occurring variances in students in terms of their varied instructional levels within grades and their varied rates of learning new content/concepts.
From 1975 until 1984, I was fortunate to be the Instructional Lead Teacher in a model school that practiced a form of this innovation design. The school had multiaged groupings of students according to their correct instructional levels in reading and mathematics, instead of simply by their grade level demarcations. See the excerpt below, which was taken from a previously written post that I had written on this blog, and has now been made into an entry on “Mary Elizabeth Sings” (Link, below)
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“From the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, I was an Instructional Lead Teacher for a principal (former Superintendent of Instruction) who had formed a continuous progress model school, without walls. It was based on mastery learning. Students advanced as rapidly as possible through 21 to 24 levels in reading and mathematics for grades 1 – 7, at their own rates to achieve mastery. We had to administer pre and post tests on each level in order to know if each child was properly placed. Monitoring all the children in the school in reading and math levels was a vital part of my job. Some children might advance only 2 levels in a year, and have spurt of growth the next year. Another student might advance 4 or 5 levels in a year. Children were neither bored or frustrated because our goal was to keep them all moving at their optimum levels of advancement according to their individual abilities to advance. All students were correctly placed at all times. Grade demarcations were not rigidly adherred to. On a given level – say level 8 – a 2nd and 3rd grade student might be in the same reading group on that Level 8, in reading.”
Excerpt, above, from the following link: http://maryelizabethsings.wordpress.com/2013/01/19/educational-essay-9-my-thoughts-for-improving-public-education/
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Teacher/coach, I was not trying to suggest that you might form 38 different levels of instruction for the 38 students in your class, but instead that you might want to subgroup the 38 students into perhaps three or four different groups on certain days of the week so that your instructional plans might better accommodate where your students are actually functioning in your class. You had previously suggested that you had a student in your 10th grade literature class who reads on 3rd grade level. If you chart the reading scores of all of your 10th grade students in your 10th grade literature class, you might find that the range of reading levels is from grade level 3 to grade level 14. On certain days of the week, you might subgroup those students who read in the range of 3rd – 5th grade-level together; those students who read from 6th – 8th grade-level together; those who read from 9th – 11th grade-level together (probably the largest group); and those who read from grades 12 – 14 in reading together.
Moreover, If you were able to team with another teacher of 10th grade literature, you could combine groups of the same instructional demarcations, and therefore each of you would only have two grade-level reading levels of students to be responsible for, instead of four each. For example, you might work with the students from both classes in the reading grade-level range from 3rd – 5th grade (severely below grade level), as well as the group in the reading range from 6th – 8th grade level (below grade level), and your peer teacher might work with those students functioning on reading grade levels 9th – 11th (on grade level essentially) and 12th – 14th (above grade level).
If it is not possible to team teach with a peer teacher, perhaps you could work with an Assistant Principal to establish a Parent or Senior Volunteer Program in your school, members of which would receive training in minimal instructional/discipline techniques. These volunteers could function as aides to accommodate you with this subgrouping design on certain days of the week. Subgroupings with this precision takes more planning, but this additional planning and implementation is preferable to trying to fit especially those students who read from grade levels 3 – 6 into your large group of 38 students for instruction daily. In that case, those severely behind students will certainly not master the material you are teaching to your whole class, unless they can have more individualized help. By subgrouping, you would also better accommodate those students who are far above grade level and may need enrichment activities so that they do not stagnate in their instructional development, or become bored.
HS Math Teacher
January 30th, 2013
6:50 am
Science Teacher: That is a very good point you made about checking for learning impairment. I remember years ago watching a boy squinting his eyes almost shut reading what I wrote on the board, and he sat front & center. I don’t want to get into the details of why his folks hadn’t had this seen about, but I saw to it that he got some glasses. The boy performed much better in my class afterward. How many other kids are out there who have conditions like you mentioned?