Against Testing and Retention
Advocates for Children and other experts have
asked for a withdrawal of the proposal to retain 5th grade
students on the basis of a single test score. In an open letter
to Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein, they argue the following:
Though we don’t
doubt your strong commitment to improving NYC schools, the
policy you seek to implement will do more harm and use a
tremendous amount of precious education funds which could
be used for programs that are effective. Research clearly
demonstrates that retention on the basis of a single test
does not increase student achievement. Rather, the data from
over two decades of research indicates that such retention
policies decrease academic performance and increase the likelihood
of dropping out, especially among low income and minority
youth.
In examining national
reports, the New York City Promotional Gates program under
Chancellor Macchiarola, and the current Chicago Public Schools
promotional policy, it can be concluded that no large urban
school system has been able to increase student performance
through such a retention policy. New York City’s Gates
program in the 1980s added a huge financial burden to the
City but had no long-term improvement to show for it. Instead
of increasing performance, the Gates retention program actually
increased the likelihood that retained students dropped out
of school. In Chicago, retained sixth graders have seen a
deterioration in their academic abilities, which prompts
us to have a great concern for what may happen to retained
fifth graders if you do not reconsider your proposal.
We believe that a more sound approach to improving
academic performance is to implement one of the many proven
practices including smaller class sizes, expanded pre-kindergarten,
early intervention, and intensive help for students at-risk
of failing.#
