There are so many factors used in determining whether or not to retain a child who is not a fluent reader. For many, it doesn't matter academically whether the child will be retained; the child is often still very low. One of the reasons we don't usually retain at my school is because statistics show that the child may do better the year he repeats, but after that, the child continues to have serious academic difficulty in subsequent years. Also, the rate of drop-out is considerably higher for those retained than for those who were promoted even though they didn't meet the qualifications for promotion. (There needs to be interventions to help the child.) In addition, the size and maturity of a child are factors. A child is usually retained only once. The child's self-esteem can suffer greatly. Another factor, is there is a wide range of normal. Specifically, what effect will retention have on a child? How will the child benefit long term? If it is, for example, poor schema, what will retention do to help the child? If it is because the child never reads, how will retention help?
In 17 years of teaching, I retained 2 children. One child was enrolled too young (he was 18 months younger than my oldest student) and another child had a parent who died during the year and the child missed a lot of school. Both benefited from the retention. I recommended retention for a third child but it didn't happen. This boy had parents who used drugs during pregnancy and afterwards, both parents spent several years in jail as a result. He spent his first four years being moved around from one relatives home to the next. As a second grader, he came into my room not knowing how to count to 5 , not recognizing his ABC's, (no number sense or phonics) and having very limited social skills. The child made great leaps in my class, but he was still far behind. Both parents (one of whom turned around) supported the recommendation to give him an extra year to bloom. The school decided not to approve the recommendation because of his size and race; they put him in special ed. He transferred to a different school and continues to struggle and has behavior problems. Everything is a struggle for him. I've taught lots of students over the years who struggled in K and 1, but made great leaps and caught up by the end of second grade. It's amazing to the child, parent, and teacher to see this happen -- usually after the Christmas break. Every time this happens, I think "I'm so glad this child was not retained." I also feel a special glow that I was able to be part of the support system that enabled this child to reach his/her potential. It makes teaching worthwhile. We don't have the ability to see into the future and find out what effect our decisions will have. Nor can we see alternative endings. Retention is a difficult decision and one that, rightly, can't be made easily. One thing I suggested to our district several years ago (which was not accepted) was to plan a 2-year third grade program for those students who would benefit from a little extra time and a slower pace. It would not be a repeat of the same material as retention is, but a deliberate slow-down of the pace so that there would be time to work on the weaknesses and enrich the experiences. It wouldn't be retention, which has that stigma attached to it. We have a large district so this would have been possible by combining students from different schools to form a class of 20 students. My suggestion was that the decision be made at the end of second grade. The teacher would teach the class for 2 years. Our attitudes do make the difference in the child's life and self-esteem. One teacher can make the difference -- good or bad. ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, July 27, 2007 10:16 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Student teacher question on fluency/retention-Juliana Hello, Here is my question. "I'm a pre-service teacher at Wayne State University. I will be doing my student teaching in the Winter, and I am curious about the number of student's being passed on to the next grade level without being fluent readers. Why are so many kids being pushed through to the next grade in spite of not being capable of the material? Does this do the child a disservice in the long run or is it better for the child to remain with his peers?" Thanks, Juliana ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
