The graduation ceremony this year was beautiful—held at the Botanical Gardens, with stirring speeches, featuring moving songs from student performers, and followed by a family celebration with refreshments. It was far more personal than my own graduation. I was one of nearly one thousand seniors, though, in contrast to the less than one hundred in this class of 2008. As I watched the students, eager in their folding chairs on the platform stage, I was shocked by the small size of the graduating class. While many more seniors will be receiving diplomas at the end of summer, after finishing summer school or passing a final Regents, the rest of the should-be graduates will be back in the fall for their second or third senior years. Is retention at the higher grade levels effective? Would not retention be more successful if implemented in the earlier grades, when the foundational skills are being taught, practiced, and mastered? The traditional alternative has been social promotion, which undoubtedly leaves students unprepared to successfully navigate the college classroom or workplace. To what extent is social promotion responsible for the nationwide decrease in rates of college completion? Is it more important for students to be self-paced, to master the content at their own individual level, even if that means more than four years of high school? Is it acceptable to expect that students will take more than the projected four years to complete their high school educations, or is it a lack in expectations on the part of teachers and administration?
If the emphasis truly was on standards-based education—with mastery of content being the requisite for grade level promotion—how long would it take students in urban schools to graduate? Thompson and Cunningham (2000) point out that “it is impossible to tell how common social promotion is…[because] virtually no statistics are kept on social promotions, in part because few districts explicitly embrace or admit to the practice.” Undeniably, teachers can attest to the presence of social promotion, and studies point to the long-term dangers of promoting students in the absence of academic merit. Students who are promoted without acquiring important foundational skills face extensive challenges at subsequent levels. Both teachers and students can become frustrated at this process—students are simply not able to perform without mastering the basics (Thompson and Cunningham, 2000). By handing students a diploma, we are telling them that they are academically prepared to achieve their dreams, and in this way social promotion does students a grave disservice. While they may enter college with their peers, the preparedness of students who were pushed through the grade levels—for issues of funding, accountability, and policy,—often leaves them unable to cope with the college setting. An astonishing amount—over 90 percent—of students at the graduation I attended will begin college in the fall. Indeed, college enrollment for students of color (especially women of color) is excitingly high. However, “the nationwide college graduation rate for black students stands at an appallingly low rate of 43 percent…20 percentage points below the 63 percentage rate for white students” (JBHE, 2007). This demonstrates a four percentage point increase for black students in the past three years, but the disparity is evident. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (2007) attributes high dropout rates among black students to “inferior K-12 preparation and an absence of a family college tradition… and the availability of financial aid.” The journal further points to the necessity of preparing students with the essential academic and study skills before they arrive at college.
If social promotion is a slippery slope, consider the traditional alternative of retention. Students repeating a grade level is more common in the early grades, especially as teachers evaluate a student’s performance after the first year of elementary or middle school (Thompson and Cunningham, 2000). While retention at the early stage can help students build a sturdy academic and emotional foundation to strengthen their performance in later years, the readjustment required to orient themselves to a new peer group and other factors can take an emotional toll on young, developing students. As supporters of social promotion advocate, students who are retained do not feel good about themselves. Thompson and Cunningham (2000) suggest that high school retention rates among African American and Hispanic males are approximately 15% higher than white males. If students are held back—or repeatedly held back—at the high school level, it seems that academic and emotional issues would be compounded, leading to higher drop-out rates.
How, then, can the education system promote student achievement at all levels? How can we, as teachers, adequately prepare all students to become successful high school and college graduates? Early education and intervention appear to be key elements. Effective preschool programming prepares children for the challenges of elementary school. Programs like Head Start are especially geared towards low-income children for a comprehensive approach to early education. Students who are retained at any level require additional assistance to identify the root of and solutions to their academic or emotional setbacks. Similarly, students who are promoted without standard academic achievement must receive support to perform at a higher level. As research points to retention rates increasing in years of early transition (elementary and middle school), perhaps schools could implement intervention programs to help students cope with the myriad of challenges, from study skills and time management to behavior and peer pressure. Certainly programs like these would be beneficial for all students, not just African American and Hispanic males.
Social promotion and retention cannot be the only alternatives, once a student reaches high school. In addition to continued support for students to overcome setbacks in their schooling, teachers can adjust their teaching to present course content with real-world connections, demonstrating the relevance of education in the world beyond high school. Being aware of social and economic challenges students experience, including employment and family educational traditional, can also help teachers to create a learning environment more conducive to the unique academic needs of our urban students. Similarly, perhaps educators need to reflect on the current definition of high school as four years and a diploma: if it is to be a true place of learning, growth, and preparation for young people, perhaps they system should honor the individual talents and challenges of those who enter our classrooms. When these students enter a university they will find that they are allowed to select what, when, how, and from whom they learn, and they will discover that it may take them more than four years to complete their degrees. With such stigma attached to both social promotion and retention, perhaps we as educators should accept and honor that high school students, like college students, can achieve through a less-prescribed definition of that institution. If a student completes his or her high school requirements at a self-paced five years, mastering the skills he or she requires to succeed in college and the work force, is it really a failure of the school, student, or community? Or is it simply a student completing, mastering, and succeeding?
Citation
JBGE, Black student college graduation rates inch higher but a large racial gap persists [Electronic version] (2007). Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. Retrieved July 15, 2008, from http://www.jbhe.com/preview/winter07preview.html
Thompson, C.L. and Cunningham, E.K. (2000). Retention and social promotion: Research and implications for policy [Electronic version]. ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education, 161.
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