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Issues Challenging Education |
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One More Time: The Social Promotion Debate
Jeremy
Stevens Lorraine
Tuck Fara
Zimmerman What is the issue? …
My Education Accountability Act will require every school district receiving
federal help to take the following five steps. First, all schools must end
social promotion. No child should graduate from high school with a diploma he
or she can't read. We do our children no favors when we allow them to pass from
grade to grade without mastering the material. But we can't just hold students
back because the system fails them. So my balanced budget triples the funding
for summer school and after-school programs, to keep a million children
learning. Now, if you doubt this will work, just look at Chicago, which ended
social promotion and made summer school mandatory for those who don't master
the basics. Math and reading scores are up three years running--with some of
the biggest gains in some of the poorest neighborhoods. It will work, and we
should do it. … President
Clinton State
of the Union Address 1999 President Clinton's declaration that social promotion must end
has made the non-promotion of underachieving students a front burner issue.
Governors of several states including California, North Carolina, Texas,
Delaware, Wisconsin, and Michigan have followed suit in their State of the
States addresses. In a memorandum from President Clinton to the Secretary of
Education in February of 1999, the White House challenges "states and
school districts to end social promotion… to require students to meet rigorous
academic standards… and to end the practice of promoting students without
regard to how much they have learned…Students should not be promoted past the
fourth grade if they cannot read independently… and should not enter high
school without a solid foundation in math." The President's proposal is
simple: provide funding for successful schools and withhold federal monies from
those that aren't. The bottom line is to end social promotion and retain
students who are not on grade level. Many states have already developed plans to end social
promotion. In the 1994-96 school year, Michigan, Kentucky, and Texas retained
thousands of students. In 1995-96, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and
Massachusetts continued this controversial practice. Across all states, four
million students were retained in 1994 (Wheelock, 1999). The number of retained
students is likely to increase, as pending legislation in many states will
require students to demonstrate competency on a standardized or end-of-grade
test prior to promotion. Those who cannot make the cut will be held back. In
fact, the Chicago model, praised by President Clinton because students without
basic math and reading skills must attend summer school, has been presented as
a model for other states to follow. Is retention the answer? Have students in the past who were
retained benefited from such a move? What happened to students who were
socially promoted? Background/Context More than half of the nation's urban fourth graders are below
level in reading. In Maryland, New Jersey, and Louisiana the numbers are more
staggering. More than 70 percent of the urban fourth graders in these three
states are reading below grade level. Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia give
the Stanford Achievement Test-9th Edition, and show similar results.
Current national practices of social promotion are similar to
those in Texas. In a 1995 survey by the Texas Federation of Teachers, 70
percent of elementary teachers and 61 percent of middle and high school
teachers stated that a high percentage of students who failed their classes
were promoted to the next grade. Social promotion was approved practice in the late 50's and
60's. Students who had been retained previously but continued to make few academic
gains were "socially promoted."
Bronner (Jan. 22, 1999) reports that Karl Alexander,
sociologist at Johns Hopkins University, in "On the Success of
Failure," writes that retention is slightly preferred over social
promotion. "'These kids start out far behind. For lots of them, retention
stops the free fall. Repeating a year does help academically and does not
compromise self-regard." The debate on social promotion vs. retention
continues with few clear answers on either side. "Contrary to popular notion, the research on retention
clearly indicates the practice of 'failing' students is just as popular now as
it was at the turn of the century." Light (1991) and Sheppard (1987)
support this notion by estimating an overall retention rate of 15% to 19% using
U.S. Census Bureau data. Research on low-achieving students who are promoted
is limited. However, Norton (1983), in a research review, cites a research
study by Koons (1977) revealing that "'regularly promoted low-achieving
pupils score higher on achievement tests than do similar retained pupils after
they spend an additional year in a grade'" (p. 701). Norton also cites
Anifson (1941) who found that students who were promoted had fewer social
personal adjustments. New York City, in 1981, enforced rigid standards for promotion
using the California Achievement Tests. Students below grade level were
required to attend summer school and retake the test. Students not on grade
level after summer school testing were retained. In evaluating this policy,
students who were retained made no greater progress than students who in
earlier years were passed to the next grade. Another study in North Carolina supported this notion that
students who are retained make no greater progress than below level students
who are promoted (Harvard, May 1986). Coffield (1974), cited by Light (1991), "insists that the
research over the past 30 years has consistently shown that children usually do
not improve academically or socially after retention." Lorrie Sheppard's (1987) extensive research on retention
demonstrates that few benefits of retention have been found. Generally,
students do well the year after retention but show little gains after that.
These gains do not offset the lowered self-esteem and ostracism caused by
retention. Norton (1983) reviewed studies (Bocks, 1977; Street and Leigh,
1971) indicating that non-promotion does not ensure greater academic mastery
and genuinely inhibits social maturity (Sandin, 1944; White and Howards, 1973).
In addition, the threat of non- promotion provides little or no motivation
towards achievement. James R. Johnson's 1984 review of research on grade retention
and social promotion reveals few solutions to this complex issue. He deplores decisions
made on the basis of one test and is concerned that political and state leaders
will use "radical surgery to treat the symptom." He believes that the
retention of students relieves schools of responsible teaching. What Are the Forces Driving
the Issue? Three years
ago Chicago began to end social promotion, and today its policy is a model for
our nation's cyclical belief that success can be obtained through the threat or
execution of failure. What gave Chicago the momentum to require summer school
for 42,000 students in 1997 (Ritter 1997) and 130,200 in 1998, twice as many as
any other city, at an estimated cost of $65 million? (Daley 1998) The move to
end social promotion may be politically driven. The President has criticized
the practice in two State of the Union Addresses (1997,1999), most recently
making rural and inner city schools that discourage social promotion a priority
in fiscal year 2000 with the proposed $600 million disbursement for the 21st
Century Community Learning Centers program (EDInitiatives, 1999). Chicago's
mandatory summer school precipitated "some of the biggest gains in some of
the poorest neighborhoods," as Clinton boasted in the 1999 Address.
Perhaps other states will aspire to want similar recognition and possible
reward. Parents and
teachers have also called for the end of social promotion. A 1998 Texas poll
revealed that 92 percent of its citizens are in favor of insisting that no
pupil leaves the third grade without the ability to read, while some 78 percent
viewed social promotion as a serious issue in the public schools (Bingham,
1998). The Cleveland Teacher's Union reported similar findings among its
members, citing a 1996 statistic that less than 1,900 of the 5,700 students who
should have comprised the Class of 1998 are on track to graduate (Corrigan,
1997). When
unprepared students are socially driven through the system, colleges have to
offer remedial courses and businesses have to spend millions teaching new
employees basic skills (Feldman, 1997). In 1998, nearly half of all students
admitted to the California State University system, representing the top third
of the state's high school graduates, arrived in need of remedial English
and/or math instruction. Philadelphia businesses and colleges have also lodged
complaints that its public school graduates are poorly educated (Daley, 1998). In the face
of the expense of public school education and the growth of the voucher/charter
movement, states are pushed from many directions for school accountability. To
satisfy the demand for accountability, high stakes testing across the country
is once again becoming the driving force behind the retention issue. Texas
Governor George Bush is "getting tough" with statewide tests to
determine promotion; Chicago has "buckled down" with the Iowa Test of
Basic Skills (ITBS) as its standard; and in North Carolina, Johnston County has
implemented a "three strikes, you're retained" end- of- grade test
policy in concurrence with that state's ABC's accountability measures. Los Angeles School
Superintendent Zacarias has decided to eliminate social promotion, resulting in
a retention rate of only one percent.
It is significant that the leader of the country's second largest school
system is supporting the end of social promotion. The pressure is on:
politicians, teachers, and parents across the country demand change (Pick,
1998). Where Is the Issue Going?
What Are Its Prospects? Despite the lack of evidence that retention of students
contributes to a higher level of learning, many teachers and parents have
continued to believe that if children who fail to meet grade standards are
retained, they will become stronger students. This view is so widespread that
Anita Sakowicz (1996) declared that the use of retention is a clear example of
"poor communication between research and practice" (Robertson, 1997).
However, there are indications that as group after group challenges the value
of retention, the public is slowly redefining its goals for children who fail to
learn at the same rate as their classmates. The American Federation of Teachers concluded, after its
exhaustive study of social promotion and retention, that neither social
promotion nor retention benefits children (1997). The AFT report "Passing
on Failure" identified several reasons for student failure:
Retaining students hasn’t been
demonstrated as an effective remedy for any of those causes of failure. As a
result, AFT President Feldman (1997) outlined three choices that are
potentially more constructive than either social promotion or retention: early
intervention and identification of students who are falling behind;
establishment of grade-level standards; and strengthened teacher training. In
doing so, she reframes the issue as a failure of school curriculum and
instruction, and less as a failure of individual students. This represents a
change in focus for Feldman. As President of UFT, the New York City teachers’
union, she had called for an end to social promotion just weeks prior to the
publication of the AFT report (1997). Secretary of Education Richard Riley
stated that when President Clinton spoke of ending social promotion, he meant
that neither retention nor social promotion is an appropriate solution to the
problems of "a house on fire" (1999). Riley explained that the
President wants to increase support for struggling students, because retention
is no more helpful to students than social promotion. The National Research Council has issued
a strongly worded objection to the use of high stakes testing as the basis for
promotion-retention decisions (Archer, 1998). Many state policies have
provisions that allow for consideration of grades, teacher recommendations, and
parent conferences in decisions concerning promotion in order to avoid reliance
on a sole test for promotion decisions. Many school districts, including
several in North Carolina, tie grade advancement to summer school attendance.
North Carolina’s Proposed Statewide Student Promotion Standards
also limits the number of times students can be retained (NCDPI, 1999). Nearly
all of the newly enacted state guidelines for promotion include some escape
clause, and are in many respects similar to existing policies, except for the
inclusion of a test as a gateway to the next grade. Advocates for exceptional children are
especially sensitive to changes in the ways children advance through school.
They estimate that as many as 100,000 special needs children in North Carolina
alone could fail to receive high school diplomas, if social promotion is ended
(Simmons, 23 February 1999). Lacking a diploma, those students wouldn’t be able
to receive any post-secondary training, and would be closed out of many
entry-level jobs. Although the State Board of Education is aware of the plight
of these students, current policy will require children identified as
exceptional to meet the same standards as other students to receive a diploma.
Parents of these children may be expected to press for modification of
standards-based promotion decisions. Hence, a potential source of legal
controversy lies in the conflict between states’ promotion plans and the
mandates of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Another group for whom an end to social
promotion would have a disproportionate effect is minorities. Educators have
been aware for years that poor students, Hispanics and African Americans are
more likely to be retained. As many as half of African American and Hispanic
students are already retained at some point in their schooling (Archer, 1998),
while the 35% of other students are likely to be retained. In North Carolina,
nearly half of minority students fail to achieve at grade level on state tests
(NCDPI, 1999). The disparate effect on minorities of retention based on rigid
standards opens the door to challenges based on racial discrimination. Parents and educators note that a lack of
clear grade standards adds to the problem. There is a call for the development
of grade standards. However, this is as daunting a challenge as finding solutions
to the problem of student failure. Some states have statewide standards, but in
many states schools are organized into independent districts each of which
determines its own grade level standards for student achievement. Developing meaningful standards that can
predict a level of learning for students who move from district to district let
alone from state to state represents a move toward a national standards and
curriculum that is in itself controversial. What
Are the Implications of the Issue for Public Education in the U.S.? Educators, parents, and businesses are
determined to improve the quality of American education. One of the easiest
ways to reform would seem to be the establishment of standards which must be
met by all children as they progress from grade to grade. Since children learn
at different rates and have varying degrees of motivation, some children may
master the grade objectives and be promoted while those who fail to meet the
standard should be retained until they do. However, it is not in the best
interests of children for schools to abandon completely the practice of social
promotion, given the volume of research that refutes the value of retention. We know that an end to social promotion,
resulting in retention of large numbers of students, would place an enormous
strain on the physical capacity of schools, and require staffing expenses at a
higher level than states may be willing or able to fund. A crisis of
overcrowding of schools would soon result. This is not, however, the reason
that educators such as AFT’s Feldman are turning away from their previous
positions on social promotion. Historically, students who are retained
are far more likely to drop out of school, and no more likely to "catch
up" than students who are never retained. Increasing the number of
students who are retained in order to end social promotion is inevitably going
to increase the dropout rate. We know, too, that a recommendation to
end social promotion is contrary to nearly all research on the issue. Retention
does not help students, and researchers will only go so far as to say that in
some cases it does less harm than in others. Determining whom to retain is not a
clear-cut decision: nearly all plans to hold students to a standard involve
parent and teacher appeals to override a proposed retention of a child. This
will certainly lead to inequity, as some children will be punished more for
having parents who don’t, for whatever reason, advocate for them. Setting standards is a process rife with
potential for conflict among states, within districts and even within schools.
Yet a decision to end social promotion must take into account the very real
prospect of having children across classrooms being expected to achieve at
quite different levels of competency. A somewhat more subtle result of ending
social promotion may be an increased erosion of support for public schools, as
the parents of children who are retained seek alternative forms of education. A
recommended or mandated retention may convince parents that use of vouchers,
charter schools or home schooling is a healthier choice than retention. A
thoughtful parent need only look to the numerous studies of retention to doubt
its benefit. At the same time, it is also not in the
best interests of children to move them through school without educating them.
We are alarmed that, whatever the source of the standard, large numbers of
students are unable to achieve at a level felt by educators to be appropriate.
Knowing that neither social promotion nor retention promotes student
achievement, we are left to devise new solutions. AFT President Feldman (1997)
touched on this in her discussion of Passing on Failure (1997). Not
wanting to cripple children by passing them on without an education or by
retaining them, educators must look to early prevention of learning problems.
To do this requires school leaders to acknowledge that the learning
difficulties of children may be created by the school: poor teaching practice
and weak curriculum as well as practice, and weak curriculum, as well as and a
lack of standards and of student motivation are causes of failure that must be
addressed. What
Should Educational Leaders Do Now to Prepare for the Issue? Politicians, teachers,
and parents should agree that neither social promotion nor retention is
necessarily good for children:
interventions that promote learning success without the damage of
retention must be creatively developed. High cost, violence, and overcrowding,
not to mention marred self-esteem, and an increase in the dropout rate caused
by retention are already buzzwords in our public schools. Without some
intervention strategy, our reliance on a demonstratively damaging policy of
retention and an equally harmful automatic progression of children through
school without appropriate mastery of skills and knowledge is likely to
continue. Several districts have
already laid solid foundations to ensure that retention for their students is a
last resort.
In Albuquerque, for instance, the principal and parents must be notified early
if retention is anticipated, and a
special support program is designed for each child who is in danger of failing.
Cincinnati provides "Plus Classes" for students in grades 3, 6, and 8
who do not meet promotion standards but are at an age at which it is
inappropriate to remain with younger students, and New Orleans offers
"double dosing" of classes students are in danger of failing
(Feldman, 1997). Long Beach Unified School District created the Signal Hill
Academy in 1997 for eighth graders with two or more F's on report cards, under
the premise that "making students repeat the same classes with the same
teachers would not address the reasons they had failed in the first place"
(Daley, 1998).
President Clinton seeks to triple funding for after school programs through the
21st Century Learning Centers plan. Inner cities and rural districts are the
primary targets for quality services, from academic enrichment to community development.
Our leaders need to take advantage of such programs, not only for monetary
incentives via the elimination of social promotion but because these children
are the center of the social promotion issue.
For these interventions to be effective in the schools, experience in the
classroom is imperative. Inner city schools or rural districts, on-track
classrooms and remedial situations like Signal Hill seem to be the placements
of choice for inexperienced, partially certified or unqualified teachers. As
recent studies have found, "teacher expertise is by far the single most
important determinant of student performance" (Darling-Hammond 1998).
Finally, our leaders must make the promotion standards explicit and define what
students should know and be able to do at various grade levels. Too often there
are no clear criteria for whether or not a student should be promoted. For
instance, Hillsborough County, Florida, states that " retention should be
based on insufficient progress in basic skills and on the student's inability
to apply basic skills to the study of academic areas" (Feldman, 1997). What is "insufficient
progress," and to what extent, and in to what areas, are students expected
to apply this information?
President Clinton has stressed that social promotion will not be tolerated.
Governors, superintendents, teachers and parents fervently agree. If our
leaders expect to make this declaration work, they must avoid simple acceptance
en route to mass retention and concentrate on intervention strategies.
Implemented early and with stringent adherence, these mediums will work to
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