The very first goal of the Five Year Plan is to increase the effectiveness and relevance of instructional and support services for all students.

 

The very first Major Focus Area of that goal is to develop and implement grade level expectations aligned pre-K-12.

 

The very first strategy for that Major Focus Area is to develop and implement a rigorous and relevant pre-K-12 curriculum based on prioritized grade level expectations in reading, writing, math, science, social studies, arts, technology and health/fitness.

 

What is missing from that strategy is to enforce those grade level expectations. This means that a student who does not meet the grade level expectations for the third grade will not be promoted to the fourth grade.

 

It serves no one to promote students into classes where they are not ready to do the work.

 

It isn't good for the student, they only fall further behind and become more discouraged, ashamed, bored, and disruptive.

 

It isn't good for the teacher who must struggle to provide meaningful instruction to a broader range of readiness, must take time away from the grade level curriculum to provide remedial lessons, and has additional discipline issues to address.

 

It isn't good for the other students in the class who must put their education on hold during the remedial lessons and the disruptive behavior.

 

How is it that social promotion continues when everyone claims to oppose it? We must end social promotion now.

 

We all talk about maintaining high expectations for all students, it's time to put some meaning to that rhetoric. We must end social promotion now.

 

Strategy #3 for eliminating the Achievement Gap is to provide extended time for learning. Ending social promotion would do just that.

 

This is already district policy, Board policy H35.00 reads:

"It is the policy of the Seattle School Board that students will be promoted to the next school level only when they have achieved the academic requirements of the previous level." It couldn't be more clear. Why isn't the district following Board policy in this matter?

 

Holding a student back would not only save that student from falling further behind and provide that student with more time on task, it might also give the student and the family the wake up call they need to pay attention to the student's education. It is easy to ignore the problem until it becomes a crisis in high school when it is much harder - and sometimes too late - to address it.

 

We are upset about students leaving high school unable to pass the 10th grade WASL, but we don't have any hesitency about allowing students to leave elementary school without passing the 4th grade WASL or leaving middle school without passing the 7th grade WASL.

 

If the district wants to guarantee that all children will be readers when they leave the third grade, then the district will have to deny access to the fourth grade by non-readers.

 

It is unreasonable to expect a student who is progressing slowly, learning less than a year's worth each year, to suddenly start learning more than a year's worth when introduced to new work without having the foundation of understanding that work assumes. You can't teach people to swim by throwing them into a deeper pool. Better to give the student more time and allow the student to start the next year of education all caught up and ready to do the work.

 

While enforcing grade level expectations might cause disruption at first, the students will get on track and progress smoothly through the system after just a year or two of sorting. After that, the number of students who do not progress will be quite low. Nearly all students, if they meet the standards and are working at grade level upon starting the school year, will meet the standards at be working at grade level at the end of the school year.

 

In short, any student who does not earn 3's in reading, writing, and math on their year-end progress report at any grade should automatically be assigned to repeat the grade. That includes kindergarten.

 

It would be nice if the district created some sort of appeal system for those who believe that their child's skills were not fairly assessed. It would also be good if the district provided some opportunity for extended learning during the summer. Students who sucessfully meet the standards at the end of the summer session could be promoted with their peers.

 

The previous Board failed in large part because they set policies but did not enforce them. If you do not enforce your policy, then you have not truly set policy. All of the talk about grade level expectations is meaningless if students who do not meet those expectations are not held back. Social promotion doesn't solve problems, it only hides them until they grow too big to disguise.