Memphis has announced they will not flunk children between kindergarten and third grade, and only flunk a child once time between fourth and eighth grades.
It's a totally sticky wicket, I know. I have lots more experience in this than the average childless person. ;-) So I have opinions:
*Basically, I think it will be a money saver for Memphis. Less years of school for a kid, at 10K a pop (which is considerably higher than Nashville, but still with dismal results). Cynical, I know, but I've seen enough in direct contact with Metro Nashville administrators and teachers to see it that way.
*Unless the teachers and administrators really buckle down with the interventions mentioned, it will be very easy to just let the kids cruise through, without adequate learning measures being met. As the article says, otherwise they just get the same curriculum and approaches as the previous year, likely without different results.
*Unless parents care and get involved in their kids' education, there isn't that much that schools can do on their own. That's something I know profoundly, first hand.
*The kid doesn't need to work, doesn't need to even show up, and the parent doesn't need to even try to do anything. The kid isn't getting retained, no matter what.
I really hope I'm wrong.
A quote from the article...
"If the schools in Memphis are determined to identify students who are struggling and apply different interventions, it's possible it could do the trick," said Jay Greene, endowed professor of education reform at the University of Arkansas and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
"Unfortunately, the track record on this approach is not that good," he said.
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