Teachers' Perceptions of Social Promotion and Grade Retention

Introduction and Problem Statement

Social promotion is the practice of advancing students to the next grade so that they may remain among their peer or age group, even when those students have not demonstrated the required academic proficiency through testing. This practice has the potential to jeopardize students' academic and lifetime goals. It also has the potential to make the teacher's job more challenging, as teachers may find themselves working with groups of students who are not all performing at the same level (Trussell, Lewis, and Raynor, 2016). The issue of social promotion therefore warrants examination to determine how it actually affects both students and teachers in the long run.

Lynch (2014) calls for more research on the effects of social promotion — as well as grade retention — on stakeholders in education. As Mawhinney, Irby, and Roberts (2016) demonstrate, there is a gap in the literature regarding the long-term effects of social promotion on teachers and students. Mawhinney et al. (2016) note that in their interviews with a student who had been socially promoted, the student expressed resentment toward teachers who were clearly there just to "collect a paycheck" (p. 159). One of the questions this study addresses is whether there is a correlation between teacher burnout and the social promotion of students.

A number of factors contribute to the achievement gap evident across various socioeconomic groups. While grade retention does not play a definitive role, educators frequently employ this practice in hopes of positively influencing student achievement (Marsh et al., 2017). Retention may be among the strongest messages conveyed to students by their educators, signaling students' level of achievement and capability relative to their peers. Both parents and educators may be unaware of the significant power they hold with respect to grade retention decisions. They may choose to retain a child without any knowledge or understanding of research findings on such a practice, which is carried out each year across many schools. Educators must develop a clear understanding of retention's impacts on students.

Educators in New York are not consistently guided or trained regarding how to address failing students. Typically, educators, school administrators, the broader education system, and even students' parents resort to retention as their only available solution — often overlooking the adverse psychological impact retention can have on children (Marsh et al., 2017). Frequently, those within academic circles remain unaware of the potential consequences of retention outlined by researchers. Given the lack of a thorough examination of educators' understanding of this practice's influence, this paper aims to scrutinize East New York educators' perceptions with regard to grade retention.

Purpose of the Study

After President Bill Clinton spoke against social promotion during his State of the Union addresses in 1998 and 1999, grade retention became a widely debated subject within the fields of politics and education. In response to these discussions, East New York schools were compelled to review and revise their policies on grade retention. The development of novel grade retention policies in Florida school districts was followed by research into East New York middle school educators' views on grade retention (Hughes et al., 2017). The findings obtained through this research would aid schools in more effectively addressing problem areas related to this practice. Following recognition of the sheer number of students retained each year, a number of alternative approaches to retention have already been implemented in other parts of the country.

Because educators are responsible for initiating the retention process, an analysis of their beliefs is essential. Educators' views may influence how they assess students and how school policies are executed. Grade retention remains the primary practice adopted by teachers with respect to failing students (Anastasiou, Papachristou, and Diakidoy, 2017; Hughes et al., 2017). Recent grade retention studies have largely focused on kindergarten and first-grade level retention. Other important considerations in studies of this subject include background, race, academic achievement, gender, and related variables.

Anastasiou and colleagues (2017) approached grade retention from a distinctive angle, concentrating specifically on educator opinions regarding middle-grade retention. Scholars have historically focused almost exclusively on background, race, academic achievement, gender, and other variables related to retained students, largely overlooking educators' contributions to the process (Anastasiou et al., 2017). Individual beliefs are increasingly recognized as reliable indicators of routine professional decisions. Hughes and colleagues (2017) argue that students' and educators' approaches to actual classroom tasks — in addition to teaching and learning techniques — significantly govern educator success in reaching students.

Research by Cham and colleagues (2015) into the impacts of grade retention revealed that educators constitute one of the most significant components within the grade retention process. They collect records of students' performance and achievement. However, the literature does not clearly explain the reasoning underlying educators' retention judgments. In order to better understand the factors behind the decision to retain students, researchers gathered and examined information from several elementary-level educators in the East New York region. The aims were to identify both overt and implicit beliefs about grade retention, and to create a data resource for elementary students, parents, school administrators, and educators.