Berliner’s 50 MYTHS AND LIES THAT THREATEN AMERICA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS speaks of laws similar to our RSA, 3rd grade flunk law: “Just Read, Florida program…resulted in thousands of 3rd-graders being left back. The research found that grade retention significantly increased the likelihood of disciplinary incidents and suspensions in the years that followed for both boys and girls. The negative outcomes affected the poor more than the wealthy. And it is poor minorities who make up the majority of those ordinarily left back… “When looking at retained students, we find that they are much more likely to be male than female, English language learners than native speakers of English, Black or Hispanic, from a poor household, from a single-parent household, from a household with low educational attainment, and to have made frequent school changes. Retained students also are more likely to have a record of chronic absences, show delayed development or attention problems, have more conflict with their teachers and peers, and to hold low perceptions of their abilities and social competence… “To uphold this policy in the face of research that has documented its numerous failures, along with this policy’s clear bias against poor and minority students, seems meanspirited. Retention policies in the US appear to be just another barrier that the least advantaged among us must clear it obtain the benefits our society frequently offers to its more advantaged citizens”
Posted on: Thu, 01 May 2014 01:29:55 +0000
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