6,300 L.A. Students to Repeat Grades This Year

More than 6,300 second- and eighth-graders are repeating their grades this year as part of the Los Angeles school district’s new effort to end social promotion, about half the number originally projected, administrators announced Monday.

Last spring, the district identified 13,500 students who were failing English, or reading, and at risk of repeating if they did not show significant improvement.

With the start of the traditional school year two weeks ago, that number dropped to 6,350.

The district drastically reduced the number of failing eighth-graders, from a projected 3,800 to 750.

But officials were reluctant to claim victory as they struggled to make sense of the decline in numbers. Some saw good news; others wondered whether the bar for advancement had been set too low.

“I think there is uncertainty here,” said Supt. Roy Romer, who expressed surprise that the eighth-grade retention rate was so low. “We’re not going to exaggerate this at this point in time.”

Nearly all of the targeted students attended six weeks of summer school in specialized classes meant to boost their skills. Many of the students also attended after-school, vacation and Saturday programs. At the end of the intervention classes, students in both grades had to raise their scores on district writing tests to advance.

Romer and other district officials said the stigma of remaining in middle school probably served as an incentive for some eighth-graders to work hard during summer school and lift their test scores.

Some principals say students learned enough to improve on the writing test, but the administrators questioned whether the students improved enough to meet the demands of high school.

“In the altruistic sense, are they ready? The answer is probably no,” said John Gaydowski, principal of Paul Revere Charter Learn Middle School.

The Pacific Palisades campus identified about 100 eighth-graders who were failing at the end of the last school year. The school made a big push to assist the students with extra classes offered during intersession and after school. After the additional instruction, all but two moved on to ninth grade.

“They are certainly better than before,” Gaydowski said. “[But] we want kids to be better than minimal.”

Elizabeth Norris, principal of Markham Middle School in South Los Angeles, expressed confidence in the social promotion program.

Markham teachers sent about 45 students to summer school and wound up recommending that 23 repeat the year.

“I would rather see them go on to the ninth grade after they’ve had all this assistance rather than retain them again, because they did make progress,” Norris said. “They are enthusiastic. That will make a difference in how they view going on to the ninth grade.”

Former Supt. Ruben Zacarias two years ago launched the effort to end the practice of promoting students regardless of their grades. The district decided to target second- and eighth-graders who were failing in reading or English. It plans to gradually expand the number of grades and subjects.

Many teachers and principals complained that the district implemented the policy too quickly, leading to confusion over how students should be evaluated.

Students who are being retained are getting specialized programs. Second-graders are studying a first grade phonics curriculum. Eighth-graders are concentrating on study skills and basic reading and comprehension skills four periods a day.

All of the retained students are attending small classes. Eighth-grade classes have just 20 students per teacher, down from the average of 33 to 35. Second-graders have just 10 students per teacher, half the size of regular second-grade classrooms.

The smaller classes have exacerbated a space crunch at many schools, particularly on elementary campuses that already are struggling to adjust to the state’s class-size reduction initiative. Many second-grade classrooms are housing two retention classes.

Weemes Elementary School Principal Annette Kessler said she averted a space crunch this year by placing the 17 students who need intervention into a single classroom with two teachers.

“Next year it could be a problem,” Kessler said. “I hope we’re going to do such a bang-up job it won’t have to happen.”

Despite confusion over how to interpret the numbers, Romer said he is confident that the district is headed in the right direction.

“This program is the right program, the right direction,” he said.

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Times staff writer Doug Smith contributed to this story.