Social promotion was banned in 1998 with great fanfare. Eight years later, things are pretty much like they were prior to the law's passage - all over the map.

 

While school boards are required to adopt a promotion/retention policy, it's up to each district to set its own criteria. In the absence of statewide guidelines, some districts focus on holding students back until they've mastered the required material, but others continue to move students to the next grade despite failing marks.

 

There are no consequences for schools that ignore the law, nor is there a timeline for schools to follow in enforcing the law.

 

In fact, about the only good thing to come out of the law is an emphasis on intervention. Over time some districts have determined that retention is not the only way to get students back on track and that it's better to intervene early rather than late.

 

The intervention component also forces a conversation between stakeholders, say educators. Parents now come together with support professionals - reading specialists, resource teachers and counselors, for example - and the teacher to address the specific needs of the child.

 

But intervention alone may not solve the problem, say educators. When district policy or practice prevents teachers from holding students back despite poor grades, students get the message that it's okay to fail, say teachers in Apple Valley [see story at left]. No amount of threatening will convince students to knuckle down if they don't want to, once they know the administration won't back up the teacher. Some middle schoolers consider it a badge of honor to fail and still get promoted to high school.

 

Teachers in Apple Valley have asked the district to work with them in finding solutions. "Right now we're in a 'lose-lose situation' because we're promoting students who are not ready to succeed at a higher level," says Stefanie VanderLaag, who teaches freshman English. It's the school that pays the price when it comes to its ranking on the Academic Performance Index.

 

Possible solutions teachers are suggesting range from reducing class size so teachers have more time to work with individual students, to denying students the privilege of eating lunch with their classmates as a way to give them a taste of what's to come.

 

Instead of seesawing between social promotion and retention, some educators suggest that the state ought to be developing a comprehensive system to address the fact that students learn at different rates and in different ways.