The
Panel for Education Policy Approves End
to 5th Grade Social Promotion
by Mayor Michael Bloomberg
I would like to thank the Panel for Education
Policy for approving our plan to eliminate social promotion
in the 5th grade. Starting in October, we will allocate $20
million to fund an array of interventions that will replicate
strategies we used last year to help 3rd graders during the
Summer Success Academy, which resulted in more than twice as
many students graduating prepared to do 4th grade work as the
year before. The extra attention and dedication from teachers,
parents and students worked in the 3rd grade, and we will now
apply the same standards to help 5th graders as well.
For years, the school system failed thousands
of students by giving up on them and promoting them regardless
of their ability, condemning them to failure later on in life.
We owe it to our students to provide them with the education
they need to succeed, and approving the 5th grade plan is an
important step toward achieving that goal.#
