A Presentation on the inefficacy of Social Promotion and Retention for students who are not meeting grade level performance standards.

This presentation is designed for current and potential administrators who want to demonstrate a need for alternative programming that will better meet the needs of our most challenged learners.

July, 2003 Leadership Academy

Angelina BerginMike KlugmanBill SwisherLiz Yarbrough

Today’s Picture High-stakes testing and the accountability movement

have catalyzed many states to end the practice of social promotion.

Furthermore, opponents of retention point to years of research documenting its ineffectiveness.

Because of the ineffectiveness of social promotion and retention, a search is on for better ways to help students improve their school performance.

A review of current literature and practice suggests promising alternatives to both practices.

These alternatives focus on preventing the failure cycle that results in poor performance so that social promotion and retention can segue into an effective, high-performance pentagon composed of intensified learning, skilled teachers, expanded learning options, assessment that informs teaching, and intervention— early and often.

Retention Students who are retained are at higher risk of dropping out of school. 25% of students who are retained drop-out! (CPS data) Students whose last school retention occurred in the middle (4-8) or

secondary (9-12) grades were more likely to drop out than those retained in the early elementary grades.

In 1993 alone, 41 percent of Hispanics (who dropped out) had repeated more than one grade.

Overall retention rates have increased 40% over the last 20 years. 30 to 50% have been retained once before 9th grade. Highest retention rates found among poor, minority, and inner-city youth. Boys retained more often than girls. ESL, late birth dates, transience, attention problems, single-parent

homes are more likely to be retained.

Social Promotion Numerous teachers implied it is district policy that no student will be retained in

the same grade, or even in sequential grades, for more than two years, a fact they believe students are well aware of and which enormously impacts student behavior.

Teachers also repeatedly note students passed by non-academic promotion are chronic discipline problems.

"The system is overloaded," said one teacher who talked to Sun Newspapers directly. "The bottom line is, I have nothing against the psychologists, but the kids are simply not getting the help they need.“

Since children are not allowed to repeat kindergarten, I have a class full of children who are in my first grade who are so immature that they can't possibly come close to mastering any skills that I am supposed to be teaching.

"It's a shame it's always cast in these terms-retention and social promotion," says Johns Hopkins University professor Karl Alexander, author of On the Success of Failure: A Reassessment of the Effects of Retention in the Primary Grades. "There ought to be a lot of things in between. We need to find out about intervention programs that are effective and cost-effective."

The highest retention rates are in grade 9, not in early elementary school. (From Principals.org)

Coming to your school?? Trends and Laws that are drawing

Regional Attention 28 states are either considering legal mandates from DOE that eliminates both social promotion

and retention, or already have in place (13). The Office of Alternative, Adult and Continuing Education Schools & Programs (New York City):

Operates 68 schools and programs in more than 400 sites throughout the city Services more than 37,000 students at any one time Conducts a full-range of education including: 26 Articulated Schools 25 Transfer Schools, 16 Transitional and Retrieval programs 15 LYFE Centers (Infants: 2 months to 3 yrs old) 2 Elementary schools, and 50 Adult Education Centers

General Trends The strongest demand for public-school alternatives is coming from non-white families… 13 States collect no state-wide data on grade retention. NCES provides no statistics about retention or social promotion. The presence of 8th grade high-stakes tests is associated with sharply higher dropout rates, especially for

students at schools serving mainly low-SES students. (Reardon 1996)… …It may be thus problematic if high-stakes tests lead individual students who would not otherwise dropout to

do so.

The 4 Frames

Political Concerns HR concerns Structural Concerns Symbolic

Curriculum

Day Structure

Age / Skills

Racial Tendencies within District

Loss of Diversity to General Pop if

Pull out program

Alternative setting req. more staff

Pre-emptive planning – Hope for the best, but plan for the worst!

How to Move Forward……a plan for any district.

Establish Indicators of Future Failure at each Grade Level

Identify initiatives aimed at addressing those indicators. Non-Academic Factors Academic Factors

Assess Efficacy of Programming Go Back to the Drawing Board…

Innovation!!

Alternative Models Use of multiple measures of student achievement. Move away from reliance on

single measures. Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day High School

http://www.mancomp.org

Articulated Schools Transfer Schools Alternative Elementary Schools English Language Learners College Partnerships Arts Education Collaborations External Learning/Experiential Learning Technology Based Schools Social Change Schools Transitional Programs

Cost Analysis Financial Break-Down of various

Alternatives. (Click Here) Alternative 6-8 Model Transitional Programs Class Size Reduction Tutoring / Mentoring Block Scheduling / Looping Multi-Age / Grade Extended Day Extended Year Night School (Manhattan Night and Day)

Resources The National Center for Education Statistics

http://nces.ed.gov/ www.Principals.org Intercultural Development Research Association

http://www.idra.org/Newslttr/1996/Oct/President.htm

National Association of School Psychologists http://www.schoolhousedoor.com/media/teacher/iq-graderete

ntion.txt

Northwest Regional Educational Library “When Students don’t succeed: Shedding Light on Grade Retention”

http://www.nwrel.org/request/july99/article1.html http://www.mancomp.org/ www.schoolrenewal.org/strategies/i-gradretain-mo.html

Articulated SchoolsSmall, theme-based schools grades 7-12 or 9-12

Baccalaureate School for Global Education Beacon School Central Park East Secondary School Landmark High School Legacy School for Integrated Studies Manhattan Village Academy Monroe Academy for Business & Law Vanguard High School Wings Academy

Transfer SchoolsDesigned to support students who have repeated

failure in high school Bronx Regional High School Cascades High School Community Preparatory High

School Concord High School Edward A Reynolds West Side

High School Gregorio Luperon High School High School Redirection

Satellite Academy Street Academy Urban Academy Lab High

School Metropolitan Corporate

Academy Pacific High School Park East High School Phoenix Academy

Alternative Elementary Schools

Bronx Little School (K-4) Ella Baker School (K-8)

English Language LearnersSchools designed for students whose primary language is

not English Brooklyn

International High School

High School of World Cultures

Liberty High School Lower East Side

Preparatory School Manhattan

International High School

College Partnerships10 schools with ‘College Now” programs

Alternative schools partnering on college campuses

College Partnerships10 schools with ‘College Now” programsAlternative schools partnering on college campuses

Brooklyn College Academy University Heights Hs (Bronx

Community College) Hostos Lincoln Academy

Arts Education CollaborationsSchools with arts-education themes

Ballet Tech (4 -12) Choir Academy of Harlem NYC Public School Repertory

Company Monroe Academy for Visual

Arts & Design New School for Arts &

Sciences (7-12)

External Learning/Experiential Learning City-As-School School for the Physical City (7-12) NYC Vocational Training Centers (47 sites)

Technology Based Schools

School of Cooperative Technical Education

Bronx Coalition Community School for Technology Robert Wagner Jr. Institute for Arts and Technology (7-12) School of Cooperative Technical Education

Social Change Schools

Coalition School for Social Change East New York Family Academy (7-12)

EBC High School for Public Service (Bushwick)

EBC HS for Public Safety & Law (East New York)

Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School Freedom Academy Unity High School Urban Peace Academy

Transitional Programs Auxiliary Services for High Schools (80 GED preparation sites) Borough Academies Career Education Center (36 sites including Job Corp locations) Eight Plus Learning Academies (14 sites) Island Academy and Horizon Academy (13 sites on Rikers

Island) Literacy Centers (Fredrick Douglass (Bk); James Baldwin (Bx)) Offsite Educational Services (83 sites including Substance

Intervention Centers) Outreach Program Passages Academy (7 sites for juvenile offenders) Program for Pregnant and Parenting Services Project Blend Second Opportunity Schools (for students suspended for up to

one year)

Community Based Organizations

Alternative, Adult and Continuing Education Schools and Programs has a long-standing history in working with Community Based Organizations, non-profits and other city agencies including:

Administration of Children Services ASPIRA Covenant House Department of Employment Department of Labor The Door Good Shepherd Services Office of Children & Family Services Phoenix House University Settlement Wildcat Services Alternative, Adult and Continuing Education Schools and Programs has

developed accountability measures to meet and exceed educational standards for all students, including those who are not successful in traditional educational settings.