"The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves." -- John Adams

"No money shall be drawn from the treasury, for the benefit of any religious or theological institution." -- Indiana Constitution Article 1, Section 6.

"...no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish enlarge, or affect their civil capacities." – Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Retention proven ineffective...AGAIN!!!

As the unethical, and unprofessional act of student retention based on standardized test scores continues to spread around the country, research continues to show that retention in grade is ineffective at best, and in fact, is often harmful. Here is the latest in more than 60 years of research showing that retention simply does not work. It will probably not change any laws, however. Places like Florida and New York City will continue to retain kids by the thousands and tens of thousands, causing emotional and academic damage in the frantic effort to eliminate "social promotion."

MiamiHerald.com


FCAT third-grade reading law questioned

Five years after a state law required school districts to make third-graders who fail the reading FCAT repeat the year, questions remain about whether the strict rule that has affected tens of thousands of students is effective.

Soon after the law was enacted, the state trumpeted stories of parents initially upset by the retention who later were pleased. But a recent Miami-Dade study that followed the first group of retained students concluded that retention only improves student achievement initially.

''It appears now that the gains have essentially disappeared,'' the study states.

A similar Broward study that tracked the first group of retained students -- who just finished seventh grade -- also found that as they have grown up, their attendance rate in school has dropped and their suspension rate has risen.

State data show that for students who have repeated third grade -- despite the extra year in elementary school -- nearly half fail the reading test as fourth-graders.

Arizona State University Professor Mary Lee Smith studied Florida's law the year after it was enacted and has continued monitoring its effects. In 2004, her policy brief recommended the law be repealed.

Four years later, Smith's objections are the same.

'The research stretching over a 60-plus-year period has consistently demonstrated the same thing: that retention in grade does not improve performance in subsequent years' achievement and bears a strong relationship to dropping out of school later,'' Smith wrote in an e-mail to The Miami Herald. ``No other body or research is so strongly one-sided, yet policy makers and politicians point to it as a way to improve performance.''

She said many other strategies, including small class sizes, high quality preschools, good teachers, remediation on academic skills before and after school and tutoring are better than retention as long as they are not teaching to the test.

Policies like Florida's dot the country. In New York City, for the last four years, third-graders who score in the lowest of four levels on English and math tests have been required to repeat the grade unless they score higher after summer school or if teachers appeal....

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"She said many other strategies, including small class sizes, high quality preschools, good teachers, remediation on academic skills before and after school and tutoring are better than retention as long as they are not teaching to the test."

This paragraph illustrated the big problem in inner-city schools. Class sizes are too big, there are no good preschools, students can have a good teacher one year and a complete sack of shit the next year, and while before- and after-school remediation and tutoring often occurs, it almost always is teaching to the test! Pretty sad...

Anonymous said...

Kozol has been saying for years that the problem is not education...the problem is poverty. No amount of testing...no high quality teacher...no after school program...no federal law...no "national standards'...will ever be able to overcome the damaging effects that poverty does to children before they reach school age.

The way to solve the problems in our schools is to solve our economic problems, but that means turning our society upside down, having politicians who tell the truth (and then, consequently, lose their power), forcing the corporate power structure to loosen their grip, and focusing on the problems here at home instead of spending 537 billion dollars - and counting - in Iraq (http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home).

Anonymous said...

All good reasons why I periodically (and by periodically I mean daily) say to Gail, "So, when are we moving to Australia?"

Anonymous said...

But what about hte Aborigines, Sam? WHAT ABOUT THE ABORIGINES?