Investing Students in the Face of Social Promotion

As third quarter closes and fourth quarter begins, failure notifications have been sent to the parents of students that have failed a core subject for three consecutive quarters. For many of these students this is a token notification. These are students that have failed a prior grade, and, as a result, qualify for a social promotion. Still others who have never been retained, will be promoted by administrators to speed troublemakers through the education process to ensure they will not be around for any additional years to cause continued mayhem.

Keep in mind that these are students that have failed with a 55% minimum. Baltimore City mandates that even students earning a 4% for a quarter be assigned a minimum grade of 55%. The reason behind this is to create a possibility for redemption in later quarters. It is much easier to earn a 60% average for the year if your current average is 55% instead of a 20%. This is a potentially good incentive. However, the impact of this incentive is nullified for students that will be promoted regardless of their class average at the end of the school year. As students go through the educational system in Baltimore City, they are learning that they will not be held accountable for the material covered or the work assigned in any class.

In an article, Agonizing Decision in Knox News (http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/apr/20/retaining-students-agonizing-decision/)
Lola Alapo analyzes the process of social promotion in Knox County, Tennessee. The article rightly points out that it is not the ideal situation to have a fourteen-year old in a classroom with nine-year old fourth graders. Nor do we want to have illiterate juniors in high school. School officials in Knox County recommend working with struggling students early in the year to ensure that failure does need to be an option. They also say that each decision needs to be made on an individual basis. Great advice. My concern in Baltimore City is that, in not holding kids accountable to promotion criteria in any form, we are disabling our ability to invest them in prevention measures we have put in place to help them be successful. If they know they will be promoted no matter what, it becomes exponentially more difficult to invest already low-achieving students in their academic success.