Tavares, FL - Feb. 19, 2014 by Vance Jochim
I sent out the video from Channel 9 earlier since they were the first to report it on Feb. 6th. http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/some-lake-county-schools-ban-teachers-giving-stude/ndF9q/
The practice of giving students passing grades when they actually flunk or have lower scores is known as “social promotion”. If you search on Social promotion grades on google, click here to see what you get – there are even research reports on how to reduce social promotion, and laws banning it:
Now a national conservative blog, The Western Center of Journalism, has picked up the story… saying that Gray Middle School is doing it in Lake County, FL. So far, that is the only specific school in the District named for practicing social promotion.
http://www.westernjournalism.com/dumbing-florida-schools-ban-low-grades/
If you go to their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/WesternJournalism and scroll to the article, you will find 1250 people have LIKED the article and posted 849 shares and entered MANY comments. The Lake County School District once again is a leader in a controversial issue.
And, here is another report on Lake County’s social promotion practice : http://youngcons.com/welcome-to-america-schools-bans-teachers-from-giving-students-0s-on-assignments/ I expect to see it on Glen Beck soon.
And, here, Detroit is going to ban social promotion unless “it costs too much”.
http://www.perdaily.com/2010/03/detroit-to-ban-social-promotion-unless-it-costs-too-much.html
The problem is that if you don’t promote failing students, they fall behind like this cartoon, and it costs more to educate them due to the hold back in their grade levels. But, if you promote them (pass them) to the next grade, they hold others back and fall further behind because they don’t have the basics.
Canadian Study says social promotion “results in students lacking the necessary skills for later life.”
“In August, the Frontier Centre for Public Policy (FCPP), an independent think-tank in Western Canada, published a report claiming that social promotion policies – promoting students regardless of academic achievement in order to avoid damage to self-esteem and alienation from their friends – results in students lacking the necessary skills for later life.
Now some professionals are questioning why avoiding the stigma of repeating a grade is more important than graduating students with necessary skills.”
So here is more on that study: http://uniter.ca/view/graduation-without-the-grades
Recommendation
I assume there is some policy about how kids are promoted to the next grade but I could not find it on the Lake County School District website. So, either there is a lapse in policy, or intentional violation of one. It is hard to believe that any existing policy would allow social promotion of the type described in the TV report.
Tough problem, but ethically, it isn’t good to give students grades higher than they actually earn. It tells them that they can slide through life, which isn’t true. In the old days, or in college, kids who fell behind had to study after hours or attend school in summer sessions to catch up. My belief is parents should be charged a surcharge (no matter their income), and the kid put into a separate class for studying until they catch up to their peers. I am sure there is research to indicate best practices, and LCSD should find and adopt them or enforce existing policies that may have been ignored. The Board should not try to avoid the issue, but insist on public disclosure of who is doing this, the relevant policies, and a plan for improvement.
Vance Jochim
Lake County Fiscal Rangers
Chief Fiscal Watchdog
Volunteers Searching for Ways to Improve Local Government Fiscal Management, Efficiency & Effectiveness
Tavares, FL 32778 (Lake County)