Social promotion and school retention: effects on student outcomes

Social Promotion or School Retention

The school years of a student are what determine their academic future. This is the reason why there has been a good deal of debate on the issue of social promotion and school retention. When the students are unable to pass their final exams, for whatever reason, it always creates a problem for the administration and the teachers because they have to make the decision of promoting the student to the next grade or retaining him or her in the same one. Apart from promotion based on performance, the culture of "socially" promoting the student is also becoming prevalent. Promotion as well as retention both can have negative impacts on a failing student pertaining to his future academic performance and his behavior. Keeping in view the impacts of social promotion and retention, the researchers want to devise an alternative way for students who do not perform well in their final exams. In this paper, we shall conduct a study to find out what problems the students, teachers and parents have to face when a student fails and what makes them promote on retain them. Moreover, we shall also discuss the expected conclusions of the study and shed some light on the alternative solutions to this problem. The study will be based students, their parents and teachers of five different schools in New York. The details of the study will be provided later in this paper.

Introduction

The concept of social promotion has become quite prevalent in the society. There are many schools in different states of the country that promote the student when he reaches a certain age, irrespective of the number of times he has failed the final exams. However, the United States Department of Education does not recognize this concept (1999). Moreover, many studies have been conducted by the No Child Left Behind movement that have suggested that social promotion of the student is not effective in making the students perform well in their studies (Denton, 2001). On the other hand, retaining the student for years in the same grade has also proved to be ineffective.

Research Problem Statement

The main objective of education is to make the students attain the knowledge that they can apply in their daily lives and careers. To test whether or not students have understood that they were taught throughout the year and to test whether or not the students are able to apply the knowledge, annual examinations are held. The dilemma arises when some of the students are not able to pass these examinations. The teachers and the administration of the school are left with two options of either promoting the student to the next grade or retaining him or her in the same one.

Retention of the student in the same grade almost always results in behavioral changes in the student, which are usually negative. This is mainly because the student feels left behind as all his friends have passed on to the next grade. The development of negative attitude and behavior hinders the learning process for the student and therefore retention is not always a good idea to make the student come over his short comings.

On the other hand, social promotion is also not always the solution to the problem. Some students are only promoted to the next grade on the basis of their age so that they do not feel socially awkward. The aforementioned is the explanation of the term social promotion. Yet again, the purpose of education is seldom fulfilled with this measure since it cannot determine whether or not the student will start performing well in his studies once he is promoted. This culture has been adopted by most schools all over the country but its effectiveness has still not been established.

Since there are issues pertaining to the educational growth of the students in retention and social promotion, it is important for the teachers and educators to come up with an alternative solution to this problem. It should be remembered that whatever new method is adopted, it should be beneficial for the students and should be cost effective for the parents and the school as well.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that are considered by the administrators before they make a decision of promoting or retaining a student when he fails to pass his exams. These factors can be exploited to devise new strategies so that learning can be made easier and interesting for these students. As of now, the students who fail their exams are only promoted when the administration reckons that their promotion is beneficial for the teachers and the students. However, the root cause of the poor result is seldom sought. Through this study we shall also explore the innovative teaching methods that enhance learning.

Research Questions

There are four questions that will be used in this study. The questions are as follows:

1. What are negative effects (if any) of social promotion or retention on the teachers and the students?

2. What criterion is used to decide whether or not the student should be promoted? Who are the stakeholders involved in this decision making process?

3. Should the parents be involved when making the decision of retaining the student?

4. What are some of the innovative alternatives that can be used instead of retention?

Methodology

Five public schools in New York will be used for this study. This will be a comparative study in which ten competent and qualified educators will be interviewed and they will be asked to fill out the questionnaire that will be used for this study. The study will be based on qualitative results rather than quantitative results. Since the demographic experience of the teachers in different districts could be different and therefore it can affect their decision making pertaining to promotion or retention of the failing students.

It should be noted here that the main focus of this study is not to find out the root causes of retention but to figure and discover ways that could be used so that social promotion could be prevented. This implies that through this study, the educators can get some assistance while they make the decision of retaining or promoting the failing students by considering the effects of both in detail. Since this is a qualitative study and not a quantitative one, from the data that is collected, it will be possible for us to build up a theory and then further studies can be conducted to confirm the theory about the effects of social promotion or retention and about the alternative ways that can be adopted to counter these effects. It should be made sure that information is given in a natural setting and the data is allowed to flow in any time. Once the information is collected it will be analyzed and compared with other studies of the same sort (Leedy and Ormod, 2010).

Expected Conclusion

As mentioned earlier in the paper, the main purpose of this study is to figure out the effects of grade retention as well as social promotion on the students' academic performance and career. Moreover, another purpose of this study is to explore the new strategies that could be implemented to prevented school retention and social promotion without compromising the learning and psyche of the students. According to the questions that would be used for interviewing the teachers and educators, the expected results and conclusions will be discussed in this part of the paper.

As of the first question, it is expected that teachers and educators would say that grade retention does have negative effects on the student behavior. These effects have also been discussed in the literature review. The students, who are retained in their grade, often have low self-esteem because of which they are unable to perform in their studies so the whole point of retaining them is rendered useless.

The stakeholders that take part in the decision making process of whether or not the student should be promoted are the class teachers, the subject teachers and the principal. Depending upon the school policy of different schools, the parents are also involved at times. The criterion that is used to decide whether or not the student should be promoted is the overall performance of the student in the class tests and assignments as well as in the previous grades. Their contribution and performance in the lectures is also analyzed. Apart from this, their behavior and potential is also assessed. If the student is the sort who wants to learn and is generally good with studies and has the potential to perform well, then the teachers usually decide to promote him or her. However, if the student is weak in the basics as well, then the teachers decide to retain him or her. Psychological factors are seldom considered.

Most of the teachers were of the view that since it is a life altering decision for the students, their parents should be taken into confidence before making the final decision.

The alternatives that were suggested by some of the teachers and educators that took part in this study included the regular training of the teachers. Only skillful teachers can produce good students, therefore teachers should be made to attend short courses on teaching methods that have been proved to be effective for the students. Another suggestion was that all the children should be provided with high quality preschool courses so that the teachers can assess the potential of these students. If some students are at-risk of academic failure, these children should be given special attention so that their learning is improved.

Bibliography:

Aldridge, J. And Goldman, R. (2007).Current Issues and Trends In Education. p. 140-144.

Denton, D. (2001). Finding alternatives to failure: Can states end social promotion and reduce retention rates-http://www.sreb.org/programs/srr/pubs/alternatives/AlternativesToFailure.pdf

Greene, Jay (2008). Pro-con On Social Promotion.The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Hager, Lindsay (2013).Pros and Cons of Social Promotion.Social Promotion vs. Retention.

Leedy, P.D., & Ormrod, J.E. (2010). Pratical Research: Planning and design. Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education.

U.S. Department of Education. (1999). Taking responsibility for ending social promotion: A guide for educators and state and local officials.http://www.ed.gov/pubs/socialpromotion/index.html

Stump, Colleen (2013).Repeating a grade: The pros and cons. Great Schools.