Blog: FCAR Speakout

Orange County Counseling Association-Orange County, Florida

Position

School Counselors oppose the Florida State Law requiring mandatory, multiple year grade retentions.

The Professional School Counselor’s Advocacy Role

 Due to increased numbers of students being retained with whom we work, School Counselors have direct knowledge of the harmful effects multiple year retentions are causing to students, to schools and ultimately to all of society.   School counselors have a professional and ethical obligation to protect students from practices that harm students’ academic, emotional and social development and have long term damaging effects. The practices of retention are damaging children. Therefore, as student advocates, we oppose mandatory, multiple grade retentions.

The Rationale

The emotional and social impact on retained students is serious. The older a child is retained , the more they experience shame, stress and attach negative feelings toward themselves and toward school. School counselors are now experiencing first hand what research as shown. Throughout Orange County, school counselors can attest to increased discipline problems among older retained students. Retained students are bigger, sometimes two or three years older than classmates and are negatively acting out their feelings from experienced failure. These students are hurt and experience frustration while trying to achieve standards beyond their abilities.  We witness many becoming resentful and despondent. Bright children also suffer anxiety from threats of retention.  </! SPAN>Some students are telling us if they fail, they will quit trying and will act up. Multiple studies on the effects of retention repeatedly show retention increases student drop out rates.

Students most often retained are slow learners, children with ADHD or special needs, limited English speakers, minority students and children of poverty. Failure of schools, of parents, inequities in society or innate intelligence should not be factors for which a child is held responsible. Student performance is directly linked to social justice, parent involvement and health.  Retentions presuppose more time in a grade will improve and cure lags in learning.  Not so. All children don’t have the same learning abilities, arrive at school with the same knowledge, have similar life/home experiences, or learn at the same rate.  Remediation, improved teaching strategies and cur! riculum enhancements to meet the needs of all learners are far more effective for student success and less costly than retention in both the long and short term. Our struggling students need remediation and attention, not retention.

Alternatives to Retention and Social Promotion

School Counselors call for:

Mandated and multiple retentions imposed on children who can not be responsible for their intellectual abilities nor for their life circumstances is unjust and damaging to students, school systems and to society. Longitudinal studies demonstrate that most retained students don’t sustain academic gains initially achieved. Retention is more costly than remediation and less effective. A high stakes test for promotion decisions is a gross misuse of a standardized test. Retained students frequently develop disruptive and antisocial behaviors and have difficulty developing social relationships with younger classmates. School counselors encourage public recognition of the grave consequences of government mandated, massive, multiple year grade retentions

1. Algozzine, B., Ysseldyke, J. E., & Elliot, J. (2002).  Strategies and tactics for effective  instruction.  Longmont, CO: Sopris West.

2. Anderson, G. E., Jimerson, S. R., & Whipple, A.D. (2002).  Student's ratings of stressful experiences at home and school: Loss of a parent and grade retention as superlative stressors. Manuscript prepared for publication, available from authors at the University of Ca., Santa Barbara.

3. Anderson, G., Whipple, A., & Jimerson, S. (2002, November).  Grade Retention: Achievement and mental health outcomes. Communiqué, 31 (3), handout pages 1-3.

4. Darling- Hammond, Linda and Falk, Beverly, (1997 Nov.) Using Standards and Assessments To Support Student Learning  Phi Delta Kappan.

5. Dawson, P. (1998, June). A primer on student grade retention: What the research says. Communiqué, 26 (8), 28-30.

6. Ferguson, P., Jimerson, S. R., & Dalton, M. (2001).  Sorting out successful failures: Exploratory analyses of factors associated with academic and behavioral outcomes of retained students.  Psychology in the Schools, 38 (4), 327-342.

7. Jimerson, S. R.  (1999). On the failure of failure: Examining the association of early grade retention and late adolescent education and employment outcomes.  Journal of School Psychology, 37 (3), 243-272.

8. Jimerson, S. R. (2001a). Meta-analysis of grade retention research: Implications for practice in the 21st century.  School Psychology Review, 30 (3), 420-437.

9. Jimerson, S. R. (2001b). A synthesis of grade retention research:  Looking backward and moving forward.  The California School Psychologist, 6, 47-59.

10. Jimerson, S. R., Anderson, G., & Whipple, A. (2002).  Winning the battle and losing the war: Examining the relation between grade retention and dropping out of high school.  Psychology in the Schools, 39 (4), 441-457.

11. Jimerson, S. R.,  Carlson, E., Rotert, M., Egeland, B., & Sroufe, E. (1997).  A prospective longitudinal study of the correlates and consequences of early grade retention.  Journal of School Psychology, 35  (1),3-25.

12. Lange, Robert R., Ph.D., University of Central Florida, The Truth About Grade Level    Retention and Social Promotion: How State and National Policies are Destroying the Future of American Youth. National Council on Measurement in Education, Code of Responsibilities in Educational Measurement. NCME, 1230 Seventeenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20036-3078

Internet Resources

1. Assessment Reform Network http://fairtest.org

2. Glasser, William,A New Look at School Failure and School Success

        http://indigo.ie/`irti/kappan.htm

3. National Association of School Psychologists-Position Paper on Student Grade Retention and Social Promotion http://naponline.org/information

4. Riley, Richard and others. Taking Responsibility for Ending Social Promotion: A Guide for Educators and State and Local Leaders http://www.ed.gov/pubs/socialpromotion

5. Slavin, Robert and others, Preventing Early School Failure: What Works. http://wwwsuccessforall.net

6. No Child Left Behind  www.nochildleftbehind.gov

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Last modified: 06/15/08