Word: socialism
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...self-esteem damaged and her determination waning, Walker is close to becoming a casualty in the war on social promotion in America's public schools. The idea driving the assault--that the performance of students can be improved if schools establish standards and insist that kids meet them before moving on to the next grade--has a simple, sound-bite toughness. It appeals to parents and teachers at a time when frustration with student underachievement is boiling over. Distressing test results released this spring in states like Louisiana (where 40% of eighth-graders flunked the state's exam in math...
...there is one thing missing: proof that cracking down on social promotion will work. Most research shows that retaining students in the same grade rarely lifts their achievement. More often it demoralizes kids like Walker--and increases their chances of dropping out. "With respect to whether retention is a good idea," says University of Wisconsin professor Robert Hauser, who studied the issue for the National Research Council, "the answer is no or almost never...
That hasn't stopped the railing against social promotion by politicians eager to burnish their credentials on public school reform. In January's State of the Union address, President Clinton drew bipartisan applause with his declaration that "all schools must end social promotion." Last month the White House proposed withholding federal money from states that don't come up with plans to end social promotion within four years. In Texas, G.O.P. presidential favorite George W. Bush made the ending of social promotion the centerpiece of his much praised education agenda. His state legislature is expected to approve a bill this...
There are other hopeful signs. Northwestern University professor Fred Hess, who studies the Chicago system, has found that the policy against social promotion has instilled a new commitment to learning among those kids who scored well enough to be promoted. Indeed, opponents of social promotion argue that the simple fear of getting held back will motivate slackers to shape up, and that the number of retainees will accordingly dwindle. "We're not out to flunk kids," says school-board president Gery Chico. "We're out to improve kids...
...students and found that repeating a year benefited some at-risk students. Yet those retainees "were still just hanging on or barely passing" after they finally advanced. Even the extra assistance Chicago provides its retained students may not be enough. In the early 1980s, after a similar clampdown on social promotion, New York City hired 1,100 new teachers and put all retained kids in classes of 18 or fewer. But the students' scores gained no more than those of comparable low achievers who had been promoted in previous years. And by high school they had higher dropout rates...