I am doing an essay on why holding a student back in the same grade is beneficial.?

Question

Does anyone have any suggestions on where to go and find some information on this subject, and what is your opinion on this topic?

Answer 1

it is not always advisable.If d student is okay, while holding him  back.

Answer 2

Okay, this subject goes round and round at my school/district.

You can look up something called the Light's Retention Scale and it basically lets you rate a child in multiple areas to see if he/she is a good candidate for retention.

Here's what I believe after teaching 10 years...

1. Do not hold a student back due to language acquistion.

(i. e. a Newcomer to the US)  Just because a student doesn't speak English, do not assume they will be unable to eventually, and don't assume they can't realize that they are 12 yrs old in a class of 10 year olds.

2. We are not 1 room school houses anymore so retaining a student who will be 2 years older than classmates does no one any good. By the time junior high rolls around this could very well be a huge social problem)

3. If you plan to retain...have a plan about what will be done DIFFERENTLY the next time. Simply hearing something a second time may not be enough. New teacher, extra tutoring monitoring for improvement....etc

4. Retention seems to work because the student has already heard the info and it will appear easier. But if the student has issues that impede learning, low IQ, language processing delays, needs glasses, emotional concerns, then chances are they will fall  behind in the next grade as well.

5. Retain at an early grade level.

6. Retain if you are sure that immaturity is the root of the problem. i.e, the student is a "young" 1st Grader and just not ready for what school entails.

Basically as a teacher, you really have to look at why the student did not learn. I have 36 in my class, and I can tell you what is going on with each of my students. You see them daily, talk to their parents. You can tell....Just don't use retention as a punishment for not turning in homework, misbehaving in class, as one of my colleagues wanted to do.

Answer 3

My opinion is that if a student didn't show proficiency in a grade, then that is indicative that they either did not learn the skills necessary in that grade or did not use the skills they learned. In either case, I believe that the student should indeed be held back, beause they need to know the skills and how to use them to succeed in future grades.

I did a research paper last spring on Standardized High Stakes Testing, and the American Educational Research Association Website was most useful to me. Perhaps you should check there to see their stance on the issue.

http://www.aera.net/

Best of luck on your essay!