Essay on The Effects Of Grade Retention

(b) Data from a longitudinal study that followed a cohort of 205,337 Florida students as 9th graders in 2000-01 through 2007-08 (post-secondary) was used. This timeframe includes high school graduation rates, drop-out events and post-secondary outcomes. Excluded from the study are those that transferred out of the state system during that time frame, leaving the sample size to 181,897. Another dataset was utilized to

Alfie Kohn’s Article “How Not to get into College” analyses many key factors of how the current school system does not work and how we as members of society need to work together extensively to remodel the system to ensure the success of future students by valuing education over grades. By looking at how students only join clubs and and worship numerical grades only to impress colleges; students facing pressure from parents, teachers, and society to get good grades and succeed in life; and how students live through many mental health implications due to a multitude of factors surrounding their educational life, we can determine that systemic factors of this society have turned students of this generation into grade grubbers.

Students in the classroom come from a variety of backgrounds. Their lives are shaped by their families, their communities, but also their peers in school whom they will spend hours a day with throughout their educational career. The ability to form relationships with others, to create lasting friendships that grow and evolve with time, is detrimental to all children and their development. Lacking the ability to do so, whether it is directly because of their conditions or because of how other students perceive them, can dramatically harm them emotionally and mentally.

In October 2000, the overall picture of high school dropouts had changed little since the late 1980s (Kaufman et al. 2001): For every 100 young adults enrolled in high school in October 1999, 5 had left school without completing a program; of 34.6 million U.S. young adults aged 16-24, 3.8 million—almost 11 percent—had not completed high school and were not enrolled. Some studies have shown that students in schools with a concentration of multiple risk factors (e.g., large schools, large classes, high poverty, inner city location) have less than one chance in two of graduating from high school; furthermore, the economic costs of dropping out have increased as time goes on (Castellano et al. 2001). Adjusting for 50

In viewing our school data one of the first things that caught my eye was the fact that in third grade we had a 19.8% retention rate (Texas Education Agency, 2014). That particular grade level had the highest retention rate in the entire school. Looking further at the data, I discovered that during the 2013-2014

In the article titled “Memories from the Other: Lessons in Connecting with Students” the author Thomas Knestrict affords an autobiographical lens into the benefit of positive connections, as well the consequences when absent. Knestrict’s backstory is one in which he illustrates an educational system that creates the ‘other’ and works to marginalize ‘at risk’ students due to learning differences (Knestrict, 2006). As a result of these learning differences, he was placed on a slower academic track, which he suggests resulted in feelings of marginalization early in life. Educators would ultimately reinforce these feeling with such words as your lazy, your not a capable student, your learning disabled, and you 're not college material. The author states, “The overwhelming message I received every day was that I was different, not as good, and defective” (Knestrict, 2006, p. 3). The internalization of the negative messages hindered Knestrict’s construction of self because he held these messages to be true; thus, his self-image would ultimately reflect such belief.

The article “Gimme an A (I Insist!) by Abigail Sullivan Moore is a commentary on grade inflation in high schools. The author discusses how high school averages are on the rise while SAT scores are staying the same. Moore goes into detail about how teachers are giving students better grades in an attempt to spare their feelings. She then covers how this negatively affects our students. The major points that will be covered in this paper are how relevant this article is and how the problem discussed is affecting our students.

    It's June, and another graduating class is hoping, among other things, to achieve high grades. Of course, "high" is a subjective target. Originally a "C" meant average; today however, the expectations and pressures to give and receive "A's" and "B's" takes its toll on teachers and students alike. This nullifies the value of the traditional grading scale and creates a host of entirely new problems. The widespread occurrence of grade inflation seriously affects the credibility of secondary and post-secondary education in America.

technology. At the same time, we must give every student access to a college degree.

Many colleges and universities throughout the United States and several other countries face a common problem. Student retention is a growing problem across the nation for all ethnic groups and all ages. Each individual who chooses to drop out of school has their own personal reasons as to why they do. However, many drops out can be completely avoided. When students drop out they are not clearly thinking about how it’s going to affect their future, the future of their children and even grandchildren. Although there are several reasons as to why students drop out of school, we will be exploring a few as it relates to why student retention is a growing problem.

     Grade retention, better known as “staying back”, “being held back” or “repeating”, has been the topic of much debate within the educational system. The controversy which surrounds this long-standing issue has been reinforced by such topics as the recent endorsement of academic standards. Research indicates that “the rate of retention has increased by approximately 40% in the last 20 years with as many as 15% of all American students held back each year and 30-50% held back at least once before ninth grade” (Dawson, 1998). These discouraging statistics pose copious problems within a school system. The difficulties can be appreciated at the organizational level, as well as inside the classroom and, most

College graduation and dropout rates have long been used as a central indicator of education system productivity and effectiveness and of social and economic well-being. Today, interest in the accuracy and usefulness of these statistics is particularly acute owing to a confluence of circumstances, including changing demographics, new legislative mandates, and heightened political pressures to reduce the incidence of dropping out. Students who are unable to pass the assessments may simply leave school before graduating. Not everyone drops out because they lack the determination to finish, instead they run into another obstacle while equipped with the motivation. Those of which are trying to regulate the balance of work and school, unexpected family problems, and financial problems.

Social promotion and retention are used for various reasons. Retention is implemented when students have not met the general requirements to begin the next grade. The question that will be addressed is how do social promotion and retention differ? The overall meaning of both will be addressed to give the reader a better understanding of the two. Social promotion is the practice of promoting a student to the next grade level even if the minimum academic factors have not been satisfied. Retention is the approach that is most widely practiced. This is the retention of a grade to reinforce academics. The pros and cons, static’s, and drop out rates will be discussed. All of these

Although many critics within the academic world will oppose by saying that character and self-esteem are taught through academia, I firmly reject that stance as a child’s first point of contact in terms of socialization is at home, with one’s family and community. This means that a child is first taught, at home, the character traits that will help him excel regardless of the impact school has on him.

When children are put into educational facilities, they get a chance to connect and surround themselves with others of the same age group. Schools can also have significant influence on a person’s individuality as well as peer groups, which influence a student’s academic integrity greatly. A student will not perform well no matter what the case is, if there is negative influence from his peers and their school environment. They affect a person’s attitude, personality in a positive or negative manner.