Detroit -- A new rule banning social promotion in Detroit Public Schools could balloon the number of students who have been held back a grade -- estimated to be 20,000 -- and could cost a significant sum to implement as the district faces a $219 million deficit.
DPS Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb signed an executive order Friday immediately banning teachers from passing students who are not proficient at their grade level to the next grade -- to the outrage of Detroit school board members who called it a political ploy in the midst of a court battle between Bobb and the board over academic control of the district.
The order affects students at all grade levels from preschool through high school. But Bobb said he wants to target the eighth grade, where roughly half of students scored less than proficient in math, reading or both on last year's statewide MEAP skills test -- a move that could cost about $16.3 million if each of 2,173 who failed reading were held back.
Eighth grade emphasized
"Eighth grade is almost like a roadblock," Bobb said. "What happens is when you get to the eighth grade if you don't intervene and automatically promote them to the ninth grade it helps to raise the dropout rate and lower the graduation rate."
The ban is "going to create some additional stresses on ou
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100213/SCHOOLS/2130319/Sweeping-social-promotion-ban-could-prove-costly-to-DPS#ixzz0fvQLwmGp