I do believe that every child in our country is entitled to an appropriate education. I do not believe that our current educational system is designed in a manner to provide an appropriate education to all children. I do not have all of the answers, but I can point out some of the problems to you.
First of all, let me address social promotion. As a parent of a child who has an IEP, this topic hits close to home. It was clear in first grade that something was not quite right with the way my daughter learns. Unfortunately, lots of testing was done and came to no conclusion. At her lowest, my daughter only read in the 9th percentile of children her age in the nation. I asked at every IEP meeting in elementary school, "Would it be beneficial to my child if we retained her? It would give her some time to not only mature socially, but give her time to catch up." When my daughter was young, I was told, "No, she is too young to retain, it wouldn't do any good." Suddenly in 4th grade the answer changed to, "No, she is too old, it will hurt her self esteem." While I am not a classroom teacher or a special education teacher, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that some children mature at different rates than others. My child is among the youngest in her class. I now wish I had demanded that my daughter be retained. As my daughter progressed, she fell further behind in basic math skills. Thankfully, we had an excellent remedial reading program that was exactly what my daughter needed. I now have a high schooler that can read on grade level, but who must use a calculator for basic math. We work on math at home. It is my personal goal that my daughter be able to make change in her head before she graduates.
No Child Left Behind was so popular at the onset because of social promotion. I have seen many parents who are told after pre-kinder testing that their children are not mature enough for school yet. Waiting for one year would make a huge difference for these kids. The parents typically throw a fit and demand that their child start kindergarten. Of course, they are surprised when it becomes apparent very quickly that their child simply is not mature enough to handle the demands made of them and they are quickly falling behind. Unfortunately, we only retain a portion of these children.
When a child hasn't grasped addition, they have no hope of understanding how multiplication works. Instead of giving these children more time to master their most basic skills, they are promoted to a more advanced class where they are hopelessly lost. While many IEPs require that assignments be modified to provide the student with success, our special education teachers in my building are overwhelmed to the point that they do not have time to address the basic math skills that our kids may be missing.
Every year I see children in EACH class that are struggling. They are miserable because they know they are falling behind. These are wonderful kids who have a variety of reasons why they aren't working at the same level as their peers. If our country could realize that every child is different and a school is not a factory, these children could be retained and instead of having "harmed" self esteem, they would have the TIME they need to catch up on vital skills they will use in the years ahead.
Unfortunately, the only way to stop social promotion is legislation. Requiring that we not promote children who read more than two grade levels below what grade they are in is a start. Unfortunately, there are huge loopholes that are being used to continue to socially promote these children.
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