PSAT for 6-19-12: Fight test-based student retention
PURE has been fighting the Chicago Public Schools’ test-based student promotion policy since 1998, and although the rules have changed a bit, there are still thousands of students who are flunked every year based on their state tests scores alone.The harm begins with the way CPS bars eighth graders from participating in graduation celebrations if their state test scores fall below an artificial cut-off point. Those students along with 3rd and 6th graders with scores below the policy’s cut off point must go to summer school. Some of them may benefit from the extra time, but overall research shows that holding students back does not help them and often harms them educationally.
Many parents in Chicago would like to join the testing opt-out movement, but students in Chicago are threatened