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Tuesday, October 29, 2019

NANCY BAILEY: The Haunted Third Grade Classrooms Children Fear: Enter and… Stay Forever!

The Haunted Third Grade Classrooms Children Fear: Enter and… Stay Forever!

The Haunted Third Grade Classrooms Children Fear: Enter and… Stay Forever!

Children fear third grade retention. It doesn’t motivate them to learn. They don’t read earlier because of it. Retention is not effective. It’s scary and could haunt a child forever.
Third grade retention laws are real for children in nineteen states. NEA Reports noted in 2017 that 16 states and Washington D.C. make it mandatory that students who don’t read at a certain level by the end of third grade will fail. Some exceptions are made for students with disabilities, ELL students, and students of color. Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma and West Virginia permit retention, but don’t mandate it.
It’s hard to imagine legislators so uninformed they would encourage, let alone mandate laws that are harmful to children!
Schools have always used retention, especially in earlier grades, but it was not mandatory, and not based on one test. Parents and teachers determined whether it might help a child. Even then, it wasn’t always a good strategy. The stigma attached to retention is often hurtful.
A year is eternity when a child is left behind. In some places, children have been kept back twice! Aside from the hurt of watching your friends move forward, most children CONTINUE READING: The Haunted Third Grade Classrooms Children Fear: Enter and… Stay Forever!