Social Promotion And Retention

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Social promotion and retention have both been used in education as a method to help lower performing students catch up to their peers. While both strategies are used with good intentions, research has shown that neither actually helps a student to be successful in their educational career. That leaves one to wonder if neither social promotion nor retention is the correct answer, then what is the best answer for a lower achieving student who is not ready for the next grade level. “Social promotion is the practice of promoting students to the next grade even though they have not acquired minimum competencies expected of that grade” (Aldridge, 2014). This practice can be a problem for not only students, but teachers and parents as well. When
Professors have found that they must lower their standards to assist students who are not prepared for college work. In the business world, funds may be used to reeducate students who lack skills needed to be successful in the labor force. Social promotion has been a widespread practice that now is questioned and eliminated by many school districts. “Districts are implementing policies to eliminate or severely curtail the practice of social promotion because of the negative short- and long- term effects…while at the same time providing manageable, cost-effective programs that promote positive student achievement” (Alridge, 2014). Retention is the practice of giving a student the gift of time with hopes that academic improvements will occur during the year the student is retained. “Retention rates have increased dramatically with the recent movement for school reform which has emphasized grade-level performance, grade-level tests to determine promotion or retention, and the end of social promotion.” (NASP). The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) states the highest retention rates are found among the poor, minority, and inner-city youth. Those at the highest risk of retention are black or Hispanic males, late birthdays and delayed developments, living in poverty or single-parent households, frequent school changes or absenteeism,
“There is no single silver bullet intervention that will effectively address the specific needs of low-achieving students” (NASP). However, there are evidence based alternatives to grade retention and social promotion. “Recent research and practices indicate that alternative strategies, which strike at the root causes of poor performance, offer genuine hope for helping all students succeed” (Johnson). Some examples of effective alternative strategies to social promotion and retention are intervene early in a child’s educational career, increase parental involvement, intensify learning opportunities, provide meaningful professional development opportunities to ensure highly qualified skilled teachers, assess students in a manner that provides accurate meaningful data to teachers, and expand learning options through differentiated

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