Social Promotion or Retention: The Only choices for failing students?
How to help students who fail, or students who do not achieve up to a certain academic standard, is an issue that probably goes back to the beginning of levels of school for students to progress through. In the U.S. it goes back to the 1840’s where age-graded schools began. In those times children who did not meet a certain standard were retained, or they repeated that grade. Rates of grade retention are difficult to trace in the past as well as currently. In some of these illustrative examples, a state could reduce retention by half in thirty years. However, different states had different retention rates. In 1909 one Massachusetts school district had a 7.5% retention rate while a Tennessee had a 75.8%. “In the 1930’s educators recognized that grade repetition might endanger student’s social and emotional development, which gave rise to the practice of social promotion. As a result of this policy, students were passed on to the next grade even if they were not ready for the work.” (Alkin, 1114) Both social promotion and retention intend to rectify the problem of failing students. However, does either of these two methods succeed? If they do not then what does?
Retention is the process of keeping students at the grade they fail. However, according to Donald R. Moore, the executive director of Designs for Change, a Chicago non-profit group that strives to improve schools, “It’s a politically popular initiative, but it harms kids in the long term.” (Gewertz, 1, 13 2002) talking about repeating the same grade. Holding students back a grade without changing the instructional strategies is ineffective. Much evidence suggests that the achievement of retained stud...
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... likely to fail and help them before it can happen. (Riley, 1999), (Oakes, 1999). Mr. Franczyk, a principal in Chicago, where social promotion has ceased says, “Retention itself does not benefit anyone. But early intervention does, I see it every year.” Evidence for early intervention working is overwhelming. As Alexander, Entwisle, and Dauber put it, the answer to social promotion and retention is intervention policies that ensure that resources are brought to bear to promote successful student learning, especially for those children at risk of failure. (Alexander, 1994) This policy should lower failing rates and help students gain the mastery over the studied material it also shows them that they do not have little worth and that much is expected from them. This policy change address why students fail and changes in those areas are necessary for them to succeed.
According to Gatto, "School are meant to tag the unfit-with poor grades, remedial placement, and other punishments" (37). As an example, schools let students who had poor grades throughout the year to pass the grade only by going to summer school. I have a friend whose dreams were shattered thanks to the system we have now. Andrea 's eleventh-grade year was very difficult for her because her mother died at the beginning of the school year. She struggled with depression, and after being in honor classes for the past three years, she started to struggle with her classes. When she reached twelfth grade because of her low performance in her junior year, she was put in medium level classes. She felt discouraged and she did only what she needed to do to graduate. One of the consequences was that she lost her opportunity to get a scholarship to a university that she always dreamed of going to. I want to ask the school board and teachers, why wait so long to bring attention to a student 's bad grades instead of warning your students at the start of their failing grades? The school system should focus on students like Andrea to provide counseling support to help them cope with their personal problems. Teachers should be working with the parents and those specific students to give them a wake-up call to help them get back on track as soon as
With the massive rise in the quality, lower prices and availability 3d printers anybody anywhere in the world now has the ability to produce almost anything they like. Websites like https://www.thingiverse.com/ offer millions of models for almost anything someone needs to produce. Websites like https://www.upwork.com offer online consulting for 3d modelers that will design anything you need. Prior to the availability of 3d printers anything that was designed had to be manufactured at professional production facilities at huge costs relative to 3d printing it. 3d Printing lowers the barriers of entry into a market that was previously dominated by a few people because of the cost of prototyping.
The way 3D printing works is by taking virtual designs from a special computer aided design or modeling software and “splits” them into separate cross-sections for the machine to use as a guide. The printer then lays down successive layers of the liquid or powdered material required (metal, plastic, paper, ceramics etc.) and eventually builds the model through these series of cross sections, creating the object desired. This printing layer by layer slowly develops the object.
Another reason why the assignment of failing grades has decreased is the influence of the self-esteem movement, which promotes the assumption that children who do not have a positive self-image cannot learn or develop properly. Although this theory is widely accepted, it has been discredited by several studies. Recent research shows that, although American students felt more confident about themselves and their work, they were outperformed by several Asian countries on tests of elementary skills. American schools and teachers tend to worry more about the student’s self-esteem than the actual academic performance (Leo, “Damn” 21). Mary Sherry, a teacher of adult literacy programs, does not believe such theories. Her view is that students become motivated by the threat of failure, and that not failing a student not only shows lack of confidence on the teacher’s behalf, but also hurts the society as a whole. Employees are becoming highly disappointed with so-called “graduate” students (8).
Our education system is failing and in his essay “What Our Education System Needs Is More F’s” Carl Singleton writes that nothing else will right the ship or fix this issue except for his proposed solution which is to simply fail more students. As a matter of fact “by the dozens, hundreds, thousands, even millions” (Singleton 1) is how he describes the failing grades should be distributed. He claims that illegitimately passing students has existed for the past two decades and even implies that it stems further back than that with many teachers in the school system today “who never should have been certified in the first place.”(Singleton 1).
Our education system faces a myriad of questions. One of which is, what is the main objective of our education system: to graduate students at a high academic standard, to graduate students who can interact socially, or to prepare students wholly in order to become contributing members of society? Parents, school districts, and the government all have their own ideas as to the primary purpose. The means (education) to the end (producing educated citizens) can take many roads or methods. One method goes down the road of social promotion. However, the unpopular practice of social promotion in our schools does not prepare our children academically. It promotes low standards, accepts mediocrity, and gives a false hope of success in a world which is unforgiving towards the uneducated.
...have been either a patch worn on the upper arm, or a gel based formula applied directly to the skin. Testosterone gel and patches are applied daily, and absorb harmlessly through the skin. Another popular testosterone replacement therapy is injections. These injections are typically administered every 1-2 weeks, depending on the patient. A Buccal Tablet is applied to the gum, where testosterone is absorbed over a 12-hour period. They are taken twice daily. And finally, testosterone pellets are placed under the skin near the hip by a doctor during a surgical procedure.
Retaining kids only began to be questioned in recent years. Could there be a relation from these kids falling behind in school to how the world has changed and different ways kids are raised? We all know the different names for the young generation, including: “The Cupcake Generation,” “Generation Me,” and “The Participation Trophy Generation.” Everything that has been handed to these kids has affected their ability to earn things, instead they feel entitled. They can grow up lacking the motivation to finish a task. When at school, they can feel that they deserve a good grade without working for it because they are “special.”
Goodwin, Bryan. "Don't Wait Until Fourth Grade to Address the Slump." Educational Leadership 68.7 (2011): 88-89. Print.
Sornson, Robert. "Preventing Early School Failure." Preventing Early Learning Failure. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2001. 177. Print.
Giving students a grade that they have not earned hinders the youth’s future educational success. A number of schools are no longer giving a grade of zero on assignments, tests, and exams completed by students. While other school districts continue to give students the grade that is adequate for the work they have done or have not completed. Giving students the grade that equals their work is designed to show students where they need to improve. Many school boards want to stop giving out zeros for work that hasn’t been turned in and give a grade that rages around the “D” area keeping children from falling behind in their classes. By allowing student to pass through the school system the educational board is raising their graduation and success
People nowadays might get the impression that the 3D printing technology is a relatively new concept in our daily life. However, 3D printing technology is invented and utilized in many fields such as creating human organs in healthcare, building architectural models in engineering, even forming components that can be used in aeronautic fields long ago. Since Charles W. Hull has invented the 3D printing technology in the 1980s, scientists, engineers, and even normal people were and still are trying to discover more possibility of the usages and changes on this technology. Same as every invention of the new technology, with its undeniable beneficial effects, 3D printing also faces lots of limitations
Grade retention seems like a reasonable solution to a serious problem. A child is significantly behind their peers, maybe they are emotionally immature, or they cannot quite grasp what is being taught to them. The first thing to do is make sure the child does not have a learning disability, after that, it is determined that since this child is falling so far behind there is no other option than to hold them back a grade. This will ensure that they have time to catch up with their classmates and move on to have a successful school career. Schools implement this every year, despite the research proving how unsuccessful grade retention is. There is no clear cut way to help a struggling child. Children learn in such diverse ways. It is a challenge to help someone falling behind, it takes time, effort and research to realize what is going to be effective for a struggling student. Grade retention is harmful to the student, it negatively impacts the child’s academics, it leads to early dropout, their self-esteem suffers, and it is not a cost effective way to help a child succeed.
It is a natural instinct for humans to always search for an easier, quicker, cost effective means of doing things. As a result, in the construction industry, 3d printing is the new exciting phenomenon that is developing and transforming the industry rapidly. 3d printing is the ability to print 3d objects from a digital file using a chosen material. Traditional construction methods will soon be replaced and a large construction reform will take place before we know it. 3d printing has many benefits and it's impacts can improve the lives of many throughout the world. However, as it is still in the beginning stages, there are still challenges to be overcome and issues to be resolved before 3d printing
The purpose of Chapter two is to review literature related to the major variables within the study. Two literature reviews were conducted. The first literature review examined the retention rates and low standardized test scores on Students taking Middle School Math. This follows the purpose of the conceptual framework, the Keller’s ARCS model(1987). Here, there will be literature related to inform the study that is related to the research design, intervention design, and measurement instruments. Lastly there will be a section on the Conceptual Framework.