Informed Opinions on Today’s Topics

A June 29 Times article profiled the problem of unprepared students in high schools. In the Northern California city of Ukiah, 75 high school teachers bought a full-page ad in a local newspaper decrying “the inability of some schools to set and enforce academic and disciplinary standards.” Social promotion, the practice of automatically advancing elementary and middle-school students to the next grade regardless of academic performance, is coming under renewed fire as teachers find themselves with students who lack basic skills.

Should students who fail still be advanced to the next grade?

Carolyn Baker, principal of Sutter Middle School, Winnetka:

“If students are not retained in elementary school, by the time they get to middle school it is very difficult to address the problem, whatever it is. In my many, many years, I can only think of one child that we retained and it helped. . . . If we retain, and we do that with very, very few, I like to insist that the parents take them to another school so they can get a fresh start, and avoid stigmatization. . . . We need to try another approach. Many years ago, Los Angeles had exploratory programs where kids not attracted to academics were exposed to metalworking, wood shop, drafting, horticulture, foods, music and arts. . . . Now we have lots of computers, but there’s not much opportunity for kids to actually use their hands.”

Diane Klewitz, assistant principal in charge of counseling at San Fernando High School in Pacoima:

“I think it does start in the elementary school . . . kids need to be retained if they are not functioning at their grade level. . . . Retention is a dirty word, but what we’re doing now doesn’t work. It’s a philosophy of not wanting to destroy a youngster’s self-esteem. But how much esteem can a kid have who is 16 and reading at third- or fourth-grade level?”

Martha Mutz, principal of Bay Laurel Elementary School, Calabasas:

“I agree that the problem needs to be solved early on. We should be setting high standards and working extremely hard so every kid is meeting the standards. But . . . socially and emotionally a 15-year-old does not belong in elementary school. . . . The research is pretty strong in showing that those who are retained go all the way through the system adding to their problems. . . . Early intervention seems to be the key. We have access to the knowledge and skills to solve these academic problems. It’s a question of money to get class size down so it is manageable and have a cadre of people to do remedial work in groups of five, 20 or 30 or one-on-one . . . whatever it takes.”

Martin Pilgreen, principal of Allan Daily (Continuation) High School, Glendale:

“It’s a very complex problem and everybody points a finger at somebody else. . . . From years as a middle-school and high school principal, I can tell you that retention does not work. . . . A lot of kids today have to cope with problems that most adults would have a tough time dealing with. I have students who are homeless . . . whose parents have run away from home. This type of kid is never going to make it in a regular high school. We need to examine how we do what we do. My school has about 18 kids per teacher, and our kids who have been ‘dismal failures’ come through with flying colors.”

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