Retention Woes
We were talking about the criteria we had for passing students along to the next grade level (in my case, to second grade) in my last learning team (a gathering of TFA people who teacher the same grades). Another first year first grade teacher mentioned a statistic that retention does not help under-achieving boys. Our team leader quickly shot down, saying she had sent on some students last year who were not up to the level they should have been and they were just continuing to fail. But the statistic bothered me, as most of my underacheivers are male. At this point, if I had to decide, I have two regular-ed boys and one regular-ed girl who I would hold back (I am trying interventions to prevent this, though).
In second grade and above, the MCT determines promotion. For my special ed students, their IEPs will determine promotion. I know what the students should know/be able to do when they go on to second grade, so that is not a problem. The problem that I am grappling with is: even if they cannot do those things, should they be promoted anyways (in other words, should I believe the research that says holding them back will only hurt them)?
I couldn't find the exact statistic that T-- mentioned, but I did read an article that stated, "The authors' interpretation of their data is that while children who were retained in first grade did not benefit from retention (primarily because of the complexity and severity of their problems), children retained at higher grade levels did benefit."
So now I have to decide, in the next two months, should these three students (and possibly others) who are not at grade level be promoted to second grade, where the work will be too hard for them and they will continue to fail, or should they be retained, have their confidence shaken, and be too old for their grade, and fall behind and be forcibly retained again next year because of the MCT, and eventually drop out of school because they are just too old and they have such low self esteem?
In second grade and above, the MCT determines promotion. For my special ed students, their IEPs will determine promotion. I know what the students should know/be able to do when they go on to second grade, so that is not a problem. The problem that I am grappling with is: even if they cannot do those things, should they be promoted anyways (in other words, should I believe the research that says holding them back will only hurt them)?
I couldn't find the exact statistic that T-- mentioned, but I did read an article that stated, "The authors' interpretation of their data is that while children who were retained in first grade did not benefit from retention (primarily because of the complexity and severity of their problems), children retained at higher grade levels did benefit."
So now I have to decide, in the next two months, should these three students (and possibly others) who are not at grade level be promoted to second grade, where the work will be too hard for them and they will continue to fail, or should they be retained, have their confidence shaken, and be too old for their grade, and fall behind and be forcibly retained again next year because of the MCT, and eventually drop out of school because they are just too old and they have such low self esteem?
posted by Jessica at 11:37 PM
2 Comments:
I think, if a child isn't successful in first grade, he/she will not find success in second grade. I think retention is always tough, but is better earlier on than later. And while it's tough to get held back I think a child who can find success and can "get it" will do better in the long term than just passing her to spare feelings. But it's such a hard decision to make! Good luck!
When I was teaching sixth grade, in upstate NY, 50% of my students had repeated a grade somewhere. At the time I thought that was high but learned it was not. There, they had pre-first and pre-third to catch students who needed extra help and time. By sixth grade, for the most part, you could not tell they were students that were held back. They were good and involved students. Remembr, there are also studies that show that males mature later than females and they just may need more time. Do what you feel is best for the children's best academic interest.
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