Social promotion versus grade retention

One of the most heated debates in education revolves around the issue of social promotion versus grade retention. I’ll define the terms in a moment, but first let me present two scenarios that illustrate the strong arguments on both sides.

It was the last day of school in New York City many years ago, and report cards were given out to elementary school children. In the bottom right hand of the report card was the class for next year. Strict homogenous grouping was in vogue back then. Class 4-1 had the top students, followed by 4-2, 4-3, etc. Imagine a group of five boys, all close friends. Three were going to be in 4-1, but one was going to be in 4-3. If that labeling wasn’t deflating enough, another boy had to repeat the third grade. Imagine the stigma that he carried with him for the rest of his educational life. Imagine the scarring from being tagged as “left back.”

On the flipside, a ninth-grade teacher meets her class, ready to follow the rigorous high school curriculum. Before long, she realizes that many students don’t come close to possessing the skills that they should have learned in the eighth grade. Why? In that district, social promotion was followed. Nobody was retained, and all eighth graders were automatically moved up to the high school, regardless of how many subjects they failed.

Two stories, each yielding compelling reasons for and against making students repeat the current grade. Social promotion is defined as automatically advancing a student to the next grade, regardless of his or her academic readiness and social maturity. Grade retention means holding a student back until he or she has demonstrated a mastery of skills in the lower grade.

An Internet search will yield numerous articles for and against social promotion. In this column and the next, I will investigate both sides of the story. As with past debates, I will try to present a balanced picture. Although I believe there are strong arguments on both sides, I do have a leaning, which I will share next time.