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Importance of Increasing Student Engagement
The Importance of Increasing Student Engagement in the Classroom
Summary of increasing student engagement
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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
Some students go about getting extra money to pay for classes by trying to get a job. Even getting a job poses as an issue, with the already lack of jobs being taken by people who sometimes even hold college degrees themselves leaves struggling college students penniless. It then ...
Larsen, D. E. (2002). When students don't "make the grade": A qualitative study of educators' ethical reasoning and decisions about student retention. (Order No. 3086307, Washington State University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 152-152 p. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/305537121?accountid=3611. (305537121).
As the economy evolves and the job market continues to get more competitive, it’s becoming harder to have a successful career without some kind of college degree. This creates a belief in many young students that college actually is a commodity, something they must have in order to have a good life. There’s many different factors that influence this mindset, high schools must push the importance of the student’s willingness and drive to further their education. College isn’t just a gateway to jobs, but it is an opportunity to increase knowledge and stretch and challenge the student which in return makes them a more rounded adult and provides them with skills they might lack prior to
Social promotion has become a controversial topic, however, what is the definition of social promotion? Les Potter (1996) defines social promotion as “the advancement of a student to a higher grade level before the student has mastered the skills of the current grade level” (p. 268). It is similar to giving one an award simply for just participating. It also can be viewed as one teacher handing off their problems to another teacher. In addition, Potter (1996) points out that “social promotion was a failure because students arrived in higher grades under prepared for the instructional level and educators that received them were under prepared to teach them” (p. 268). The issue with social promotion is that it is not helpful for teachers because they are handed students that they may not understand how they can help, which hurts the promoted student since they cannot understand the new
In this article “What It Takes To Make New College Students Employable” written by Alina Tugend, she argues that your time in college does not necessarily prepare an individual for jobs in society today. This is mainly due to employers who expect recent college graduates to have the skills prepared for a working environment. Unfortunately, that is not the case because the social and technical skills that you learn in college do not translate into the corporate world. To solve this problem, students can become more well equipped with the skills necessary to work by attending training programs, have employers work with them to fix certain issues, and teach them where certain social skills should be applied in the workplace.
In this article Nemko is illuminating the issues that our modern society is facing involving higher education. Students are starting off college with bare minimum requirements for next level learning and feeling disappointed when they are not succeeding in their courses. The author acknowledges that the courses being taken by students are sometimes not beneficial to life after college. Nemko states, “A 2006 study supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that 50 percent of college seniors scored below ‘proficient’ levels on a test that required them to do such basic tasks…”(525). Students are specializing in areas of learning to in turn be denied to working in that field and stuck with unnecessary skills. “Many college graduates are forced to take some very nonprofessional positions, such as driving a truck or tending bar”( ...
In conclusion, the Academic Achievement has been fueled by society's presets, minority students' lack of effort, and the failures of the schooling system in America. There has been some challenging setbacks, but the Gap can be fixed to create a common ground for all prospective members of America's society to excel on equally. By realizing that change can be achieved, there are little to no limits for minority students to create a better mindset towards education. Students, parents, and teachers have to be willing to work together, as well as tackle obstacles upheld by society, and the economic deficiencies that effect schools across America. This will, in turn, take America one step closer to closing the Academic Achievement Gap in America.
When learning something new, one starts from the beginning and works ones way up to the next level until the objective has been mastered. This is a logical method. One cannot learn to read or write without learning the ABCs. The basics must come first. In our education system, social promotion focuses more on the social education of students rather than the academic education. According to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, “social promotion is the practice of promoting a student from one grade level to the next on the basis of age rather than academic achievement.” This practice disregards logic and promotes students with their peers rather than promoting the student when he/she achieves the learning objective. The only people truly affected by this practice are the ones passed on. For example, James is a ...
There are several school-level processes that may affect student outcomes either as direct effects of instructional practice or indirectly through support of students’ social-psychological needs (Rowan, B., Chiang, F.-S., Miller, R. J., 1996).
Education is one of the most important factors to any person’s success in their lifetime, but is higher education really worth it? The answer is found in the article “America’s Most Overrated Product: The Bachelor’s Degree.” Written by Marty Nemko who was most likely inspired to write this because of his experience as a career counselor. In this article Nemko addresses the parents of potential college students to inform them the truth about college’s being money hungry businesses. He brings fourth multiple examples of why bachelor degrees are overrated and how colleges are not being held to a high enough standard. Additionally, he argues that going to college isn’t even necessary for success, and that many of the skills needed to succeed in the workplace are already in the successful students not just taught at some college. The text as a whole reveals the ugly truth that colleges are more focused on making money than actually helping their students succeed and because of this fact parents should take action to protect their students from being harmed in the process.
Since it is not an easy decision to make the child’s parents, school instructors and counselors are all involved in the process. Conversely, there is also social promotion. Social promotion is the practice of moving a child ahead a grade even if they aren’t necessarily ready to be advanced to the next grade, the thought process their being that they will have time to catch up with the other students. Both of these practices are flawed in different ways, but what seems to be more detrimental to the student is grade retention. Jimerson (2001b) is quoted as saying that “grade retention suggests that it is not likely to be effective in remediating academic failure and/or behavioral
Grade retention, better known as “staying back”, “being held back” or “repeating”, has been the topic of much debate within the educational system. The controversy which surrounds this long-standing issue has been reinforced by such topics as the recent endorsement of academic standards. Research indicates that “the rate of retention has increased by approximately 40% in the last 20 years with as many as 15% of all American students held back each year and 30-50% held back at least once before ninth grade” (Dawson, 1998). These discouraging statistics pose copious problems within a school system. The difficulties can be appreciated at the organizational level, as well as inside the classroom and, most troubling, within the individual students. The consequences, both positive and negative, reverberate throughout the school system. Grades retention is an issue which requires a prodigious amount of examination and should be considered carefully and thoroughly.
Social forces play a major role in the achievement that takes place in our nation’s schools. Factors that take place outside of the classroom have significant effects that intrude on a child’s learning environment. These social forces hold no prejudice to the youth for whom they afflict and arise in every school setting across the public school system. It is important that one recognizes the impact that social forces have on the future leaders of our country and what conflicts they create for our present day learners. Because we live in a competitive society and want to be able to compete in the global economy, achievement pressure runs rampant in classrooms across the country (Anxiety.org, 2011). When parents and teachers can become aware of the emotional burdens and adverse effects that high achievement pressures carry, they will no doubt second guess their choice to perpetuate them (Weissbourd, 2011). The first step in solving any problem is to first be able to acknowledge it.
Students who were younger, worked minimal hours, and had strong English, were more likely to return and succeed in school than others. However, they realized that the students’ overall grade point average was probably the strongest predictor of persistence no matter what their background was. Their grade point average helped them decide to stay at community college and increased their persistence, along with having relationships within the college with someone such as faculty, counselors or administrations. Overall above average grades and ties to a representative of the institution decreased the risk of students dropping out. These finding are significant because institutions can be aware to provide in-person support for students along with resources to help students maintain a successful grade point
It is true, social promotion will evade the failing student’s short-term self-esteem. Nonetheless, social promotion doesn’t guarantee escaping self-esteem issues in the future due to