Social Promotion Policy & NYC Public Schools

Social promotion in NYC public schools

Today New York City district accounts approximately 1 .1 million students , what is one of the largest public school districts in USA Just couple months ago , Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein introduced new approach towards the social promotion in public schools in NYC . According to the Raymond Domanico , the proposed initiative will hold back around 15 ,000 third-graders in case if they fail English and math tests .[ 1 ,

.4] Of course , the issue of social promotion in public schools is a controversial

one and contains numerous cons and pros which were lately widely discussed among the educators In this essay I am going to provide detailed information regarding social promotion in NYC

The idea of social promotion was initially introduced in NYC in the beginning of 1980s . The program looks alike to the one proposed by Klein and Bloomberg not long ago . Though , 20 years ago it was called Promotional Gates Program ' and obligated students of the third and seventh grade to pass English reading test and math test before they are accepted to the upper grade . They were also proposed to study at summer schools if they fail the test and retake it at the end of August . Only if they fail this test for the second time , they will be turned back to the same grade again

The novelty of Mayor 's initiative concludes in that , that if the third-graders fail the reading and math test (will not pass level 3 where 4th level is considered to be the highest ) - they will be offered another chance to take it but previously attend the summer school . The trick and the topic for the continuing discussions of educators is in that , that the passing level for the second test attempt - is level 2 (the rest of scenario of social promotion is invariable - if students fail this level , they are to repeat third grade again . Some argue that this method will provide weak students the understanding that their flabby achievements will be tolerated , and therefore these students are left with each year behind their progressing classmates . But the Chancellor Joe Klein notes , that "No one wants to hold students behind So large numbers of students are promoted even though those students are not prepared for the next grade . The result is that many students are passed through the system from one grade to another without the necessary preparation and skills . These students typically fall further and further behind until they ultimately leave school unprepared " [ 1 br

.4] Now it becomes more understandable , why these changes raised number of accusations from the side of educators and have opponents as well

New Mayor 's approach is retrieved towards summer schools as well : those will be available for the students who are not only third graders but also second graders and who demonstrate poor results and attendance during that grade . The class size is decreased to the quantity of the small group...