Florida Board of Education Wants to End 'social Promotion'

[seriousstan]

Bolstered by statistics showing students who are held back benefit from remedial education, the Florida Board of Education decided to ask lawmakers to end "social promotion" at all grade levels.
Board officials said Tuesday it would be an important step in ensuring students are prepared when they are promoted to the next grade. However, details of how the state would handle the tens of thousands of children who wouldn't advance have not yet been worked out.

Right now, only third-graders in Florida have to show they read at the appropriate skill levels before they are promoted to the fourth grade. Those who are held back can attend summer reading camps or repeat the third grade.

The issue is a touchy one for parents, who often fight having their children held back. It also would require the state to adopt a more widespread, and likely expensive, system of providing remedial education throughout public schools.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBZ73WD54E.html

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. This is one of the reasons I pulled my kid out of public school

He is a gifted dyslexic. The county that I live in has no programs for gifted dyslexics. Rather it's a mish mash of services and the quality of these servives depends on where you are zoned.

My son could not pass the 3rd grade FCAT without assistance. However, they were not allowed to assist him because he hadn't finish the IEP process, which takes over a year, in order to be officially diagnosed a dyslexic. Needless to say he failed the FCAT.

Fortunately this rule was not in effect at the time because to have left this child back would have been devasting for him. He was already have a hard time with teachers who don't have a clue and to be told that he had to repeat 3rd grade would have caused a total meltdown.

This is the problem with using one flawed test to determine a whole generations fate. Individual circumstances must be taken into account before such life changing desisions are made.

[bleedingheart]

7. I blame voters for the testing rules..

people wanted a "quick fix"...something to "deal with the problem" of education and they didn't want to have to think about the broader problem. So they voted in the people that came up with these ideas.

I too have a child with special needs but luckily for me the public schools in our area are good. In fact, private and religious schools are not obligated by law to assist kids like him but the public schools are. I am glad you found a school for your child but I went to a meeting of parents who have kids in similar circumstances and many of the kids who had been in religious or private schools had more problems with those systems than the public schools.
In fact one boy, who had Tourettes, was in three private schools before the parents started homeschooling him. The sad part was that the kid was actually worse off in the end because he had no peer interaction at all and his mother was absolutely shocked to find out that because she automatically assumed th public schools wouldn't help him she had never enrolled him in them.

[baba]

25. Gifted with LD.

It is so unfortunate that many school districts don't know how to serve kids who are gifted and have either AD/HD or LD. It sounds like you are a good advocate for your child.

[DoYouEverWonder]

26. It's just so much easier

to classify them has ESE and put them on drugs.

Yes, my son is lucky, I happen to have a degree in Early Childhood Ed and recognized his symptoms and had him diagnosed at the end of 1st grade.

Unfortunately, most kid's with reading disabilities aren't even diagnosed until 3rd grade or later and it takes over a year to get an IEP done. That is why 3rd grade is the worst grade to pick for this major pass/fail decision.

In the meantime, I'll take my McKay Scholarship, thank you very much.

[leftyandproud]

2. jeb country..expect no less

[Corgigal]

3. Of course

The public schools are loaded with cash so spending thousands to put the same kid through a grade is so much smarter, then some tutoring in the area's needed.

Idiots.

[Ilsa]

4. Our TX school district cancelled remedial ed summer school

last year. Said they didn't have the money. They would have cancelled summer school for identified disabled children too if they thought thye could get away with it.

Next, DimSon will want kids identified for crappy-paying, downwardly mobile careers by third grade. Too bad they didn't hold his stupid ass back.

[callous taoboy]

16. Our Tx district will still offer summer school,

but our extended day coordinator position was out-sourced to we teachers and we are pretty grouchy about it. So slowly we nibble away at the foundations. Why do we elect termites?

[Red State Rebel]

22. MO kids get PAID to go to summer school!

I was in shock when a teacher told me that. Last year my nephews and niece went and they were paid also. If they don't miss days and pass every class with a certain grade, they were given cash at the end. I might be mistaken, but I think it was $50.00 to $100 per student.

I was in shock!

[BoogDoc7]

5. Question...

Barring specific circumstances (such as a dyslexic son or any mental/physical disability that legitimatly requires help), why shouldn't the children who can't pass be held back or attend summer school?

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. Some children should be

but you can't base that decision just on one test.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

12. Exactly

I remember an article about a gifted child who had failed his state's standardized test. The reason: It was pollen season, and his allergy medication made him drowsy. I had a friend who had to repeat her teaching exams because the night before she took them she had spent much of the prior night at the hospital after her sister nearly died in childbirth.

That's why I think classwork portfolios are a much better indicator of a student's comprehension of a subject.

[bleedingheart]

8. I think the child's overall performance in school should be taken

into account...failing a child based on one test is idiotic.

If anything, I find that the normal children I have encountered who have problems in school are those who have parents who don't care.

[BoogDoc7]

9. Yeah...

I think that parents who don't care is probably bigger than any other matter...but does that mean that a kid shouldn't be held back if he can't read on-level?

[pinerow]

10. Some of these kids' parents cannot read "on-"level" either...an earlier

post stated that people are always looking for "quick-fix" solution, a magic pill, so to speak. These are the very same people who want a free ride, they expect the schools to educate little Johnny and Jane, but turn down every school bond issue that comes up. The latest budget proposal by Jeb will put more of the burden on those who cannot afford it; while cutting the Intangibles Tax (tax on investment dividends etc...). The people of Florida deserve what they asked for...

[bleedingheart]

11. reading is actually not something that comes as naturally to some

as it does to others.

My son has reading difficulties, he reads on memorization not based on phonics. To be honest it took until he got to 3rd grade to finally find the "key" to helping him read. (he did read but not as well as his father and I felt he should...)Now he is doing much better and he is finally catching up. In math and other subjects he is gifted. Why fail him just for reading? Having him repeat 2nd grade unnecessarily for reading seems like a "throwing the babe out with the bath water" solution.

Once we figured out his method of reading and we help him based on how he approaches it...he likes to read....but it took our efforts as parents and the help of the school to finally figure it out and to be honest I think that our involvement has made the crucial difference.

[mccoyn]

23. Learning disabilities arn't fully understood.

When I was a kid dyslexia wasn't widly known about or looked for. This almost lead to me being held back at one point. I was far ahead of my peers in other areas, but I couldn't read as well. Holding me back in everything, just because I had trouble reading just wasn't the solution. The staff at the school knew this, but the Florida test never would.

What other learning disabilities don't we know about?

Lets pay teachers more money so that we get more people who care deeply about their job.

[Justitia]

13. This causes DROPOUTS, which make the schools "numbers" look better

I have seen that in spades here in TX, and also when I lived in NC.

Believe me, many parents would WELCOME the opportunity to put their child in remedial summer classes, for the extra tutorials in any given subject - more concentrated focus on the difficult subjects.

HOWEVER, I was shocked to find out that many, many (maybe most?) school districts no longer offer summer school, saying they can't afford it - even though the parents PAY FOR IT.

So, if you hold children back consistently they become older than their peer group which makes them dissociate from their classmates. Soon they simply dropout as school becomes socially tedious for them. (I actually witnessed a counselor in NC SUGGEST to a student that he should drop out on his 16th b-day)

Guess what happens then? The "low performing" students magically disappear from the ranks - poof!

Ending social promotion (and summer remedial school) is a HUGE contributor to the drop out rate - not good.

[pinerow]

14. 'nuff said...!! You have hit the nail on the head.

nt

[callous taoboy]

15. End social promotion? Start with the bush brothers.

When we were encouraging our state leg. to take a closer look at this testing madness it was suggested that all state legislators take and be required to pass the high school exit exam in order to keep their seat in the leg.

[pinerow]

17. Great Idea...!!!

nt

[noonwitch]

18. I have mixed feelings about social promotions

Kids who are in special education classes to treat learning problems need to be in the same grade as their peers to keep them from total peer rejection. They already get picked on for being in special ed to begin with. If they are doing the best they can, then they should be socially promoted.

Johnny loser who doesn't do his homework, who's parents never come in to conferences and who doesn't have any learning disability should be held accountable for not doing his work. At least it will get his parents' attention.

[NorthernSpy]

20. I've always suspected that the "learning disorders" revolution...

... was really about protecting the underperforming spawn of the respectable classes from the nasty effects of meritocracy.

The newly-enlightened attitude about these supposed learning disorders evidently doesn't reach all that far. Even nowadays, when working class (let alone 'underclass') kids fail, it's prolly because they have "uninvolved" parents -- unless, of course, the kids themselves are lazy or bad or just hopelessly stupid.

And actually, I'd say that your point about peer rejection is as valid a concern for "Johnny Loser" as for the kid with a diagnosis of learning disability.

[mccoyn]

24. Learning disabilities are real.

Learning disabilities arn't about making excuses for not learning, but finding the right way to teach someone. The fact is we don't all learn in the same way. Yet we have an education system that teaches everyone in the same way. The way to fix this is to identify the differences and compensate for them.

I know this is true because I've struggled with it and succeeded in the end. A huge help was that no one ever said I was unable to succeed. Considering that I was working against the established system I don't think I could have been successful had an arbitrary obsticle been in my way. I wasn't reading at a third grade level in third grade or forth grade and I still read much slower than my peers. It doesn't mean I can't learn, just that I have to learn in a way that doesn't rely on lots of reading. Today I consider my ability to learn to be my strongest skill, and my ability to read one of my weakest.

[mutus_frutex]

19. I don't kow if anybody is interested, but I'll share my experience

I'm a foreigner and my only experience with the american educational system is through grad school. Even there I could notice "social promotion". I come from a very different, very tough educational system. Then, when I took my first tests here I was surprised at how easy they were. And they only got easier because most of the students in my class complained and the "curve" was rather schewed towards the low side. By the last test I thought they were ridiculous.

I think that, by far, the reason for this is that professors are accountable by the number of students approved, not by what they learn. In my country, students were measured agains an absolute standard, not agains the average performance of the class. We had to pass many exames through the year and a final one (this for each of the subjects). This final one could be taken repeated times and you HAD to pass to advance.

Gotta go now, I'll write a bit more later.

[mutus_frutex]

21. Continuing what I was saying..

In my country the dropout rate is not huge, but is probably a bit larger than here. But the strict testing ensures that the people that get out of a given class KNOW what was taught in it.

Teachers and professors are not judged solely on the number of students that fail a given class, that is actually something secondary. I think this is due to the fact that the weight is much more on the student to learn than on the teacher to teach.

There is very little sense of "entitlement" on the part of the student, something that here in the states is rampant.

Anyway, it might be a little Prussian, but I think it works.. :-)

[zbdent]

27. Fine! You know how many freeptards are gonna be pissed because

their idiot son is being held back?

All of a sudden, it will be the "teachers'" fault again that their kid ain't going on to 4th grade for the third year in a row.