Another Catch-22?

Under the presently established public education system, deciding whether or not a child should repeat a grade level is tantamount to choosing which road to failure you wish he or she to travel.

Virtually all researchers agree that neither retention nor social promotion is effective. Many studies, in fact, have shown that those who repeat two grades have an 80 to 90 percent chance of dropping out. This same research, however, has not come up with any benefits to social promotion. The National Research Council (NRC) concludes that "retention and social promotion are equally undesirable choices; schools can reduce the need for these either-or options by using alternative approaches." (1)

No matter which route you choose, its damned if you do and damned if you don't-a veritable Catch-22.

In the early eighties my English department initiated an experimental basics program aimed at ninth graders whose social promotions in language arts through elementary and middle school had landed them in high school virtually illiterate. Fortunately, we had enough classroom space to team-teach. By team-teaching we could adequately address individual shortcomings in traditional classroom settings.

A common deficiency manifested itself immediately. Not one of our forty-plus freshmen could spell. Some wrote "teh" instead of the, and "gril" was more common than girl. After agreeing that the class needed a crash course, my cohort and I dug up a list labeled, "100 Words Every Sixth Grader Should Know How to Spell." Each child received a copy and instructions that spelling all of the words on this list would be their homework assignment for the quarter. Each day they were given a set of ten words in listed order. As they spelled each set correctly, they "graduated" to the next ten words. Parents or guardians were called when it became obvious that the lists were not being worked on at home. Once through all one hundred, our pupils were given a written test on the entire list, which they had to pass with a 100% grade or receive an F for the quarter. Those who finished early moved on to reading and writing. Happily, not a single student failed.

There are alternatives to Catch-22.

The first is to establish observable standards. Research has shown that "without explicit grade-by-grade standards, anything goes and anything can be accepted-even poor work." (1)

The second, and I believe more important, is to revamp the system to allow

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