We received four letters from four different academic departments some weeks ago representing about twenty teachers. There’s safety in numbers. I’ll include only one of them for my readers benefits although each department offered their separate take on the difficulties Denfeld teachers are confronted with. This comes from the English faculty.
January 22, 2015
Dear Superintendent Gronseth and Duluth School Board,
Passing students from grade to grade, whether or not they have mastered the basic standards, has become commonplace in our school district. According to Steve Baskin, author of The Gift of Failure (2011), promoting students before they have mastered the required skills of a course simply is not an advantage for students. Baskin states, [Success] is not something conferred; it is earned through taking risks and developing skills. In fact, in a study of 99,000 students, it was found that retained students out-performed promoted students in reading in the first year after retention, and these gains increased substantially the second year (Greene and Winters: Revisiting Grade Retention, 2006). The problem our district must face today is that not one study since the 80s has tied students who are ill-prepared but promoted to lower drug or alcohol use, higher graduation rates, or higher GPAs. In fact, promotion without proficiency was outlawed in New York as early as 1982.
Our school district is still practicing this strategy, passing students from grade level to grade level, ignoring previous failure in a course, or the fact that a pre-requisite course should be successfully completed for the student to have adequate background knowledge to master the next course in the sequence. Not only are there no benefits to promotion without proficiency, there are documented negative impacts. Waiting until the end of the school year to move on, students are denied present success; students are promoted to classes for which they know they are unable to do the work, positioning them for further failure; students study skills deteriorate or the students become so frustrated they drop out; their frustrations lead to disruptions, diminishing the achievement of others; and it sends messages to other students that they can get by without working hard (Baskin).
Learning is sequential. In Language Arts courses, when learning the writing process, 9th graders master writing topic sentences, crafting a minimum of five sentences of support, and summing up their ideas in a closing statement. These basics are carried forward and expanded upon in 10th grade to include multi-paragraph arguments, introductory paragraphs, eight-to-ten sentences of support, and summative conclusions. Junior year, students learn to craft an argument, conduct and cite research, use the MLA system, and expand their paragraphs to a college level of twelve to fifteen sentences of support. We now have juniors in 10th grade English classes who cannot write a complete sentence, much less organize and support an argument. The same is true in reading and literary concepts. In grade 9, students are taught literary terminology that is then further developed and applied in subsequent years. If students do not learn symbolism in grade 9, it is that much tougher for them to master the allegory in grade 10. This is also true of vocabulary instruction, mechanics (conventions), and grammar instruction.
The district has spent thousands on curriculum development to work with the Common Core. We have worked to align our ELA curriculum with the standards. If students are promoted based on age or years in school rather than achievement and earned credits, then we are not in compliance.
Perhaps most significantly, it is disheartening how quickly students learn a cycle of failure. Once they have experienced the frustration of receiving an F in a course, they soon learn to expect failure from themselves. This expectation is made manifest in a variety of ways. Some students shut down,
academically and emotionally, believing they can’t succeed. This student will pull his hood down, put his ear buds in, and stop speaking or otherwise engaging with peers and teacher alike. Who wouldn’t rather
turn inward than be reminded of their failure day after day? Unfortunately, oftentimes the response is opposite the student acts out and becomes disruptive for the entire class. They would much rather be defiant or the “class clown” than risk anybody knowing they are unable to keep up.Students who fall behind academically fall further and further behind with each passing school year. We are doing them an academic disservice to continue to allow students who have not passed previous classes to register for classes where they cannot possibly catch up. Students need the message that we have expectations in this school, expectations for achievement and character. Retention helps the student sharpen skills such as organization, management, study skills, and literacy skills which are important to students entering the next grade, college, or the work force. To quote Dr. Wendy Mogel, author of Blessing of a Skinned Knee, It is our job to prepare children for the road, not prepare the road for our children.
We ask that students be required to pass each grade level of English before being allowed to progress to the next level, in middle school and high school alike. We ask further that the District consider looking at promotion without proficiency in our district, as many students arrive at our schools already behind academically. It’s time we stop insulating our students from the very experiences that facilitate growth and resilience.
Sincerely,
Denfeld High School, Department of English and Language Arts
Scott Forbert, Michele Helbacka, Paula Leland, Jill Lofald, Stephanie Mickle, Penny Stauduhar
